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DUKE
UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

pis!f)op Joisept) plount Cjjegfjire

Photograph by Bayard IVoottcn

BISHOP JOSEPH BLOUNT CHESHIRE

From a portrait by Mrs. Arthur Nash, in the possession of Miss Sarah
Cheshire, Raleii;h, North Carolina.

JOSEPH BLOUNT CHESHIRE
IB^i^ TLiit anb Morfe

BY LAWRENCE FOUSHEE LONDON, Ph.D.

Historiographer of the Diocese of North Carolina

Cfjapel Ilin
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS

1941

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

BY THE AMERICAN BOOK-STRATFORD PRESS, INC., NEW YORK

Sch. R.

Foreuoord
By Edwin A. Penick, Bishop of North Carolina

One of the many characteristics for which Bishop Chesh-
ire is remembered by his friends and admirers was his
uncompromising adherence to the last letter of truth.
An inaccurate or careless remark often brought forth
from him a startling correction. His own historical papers
were loyal to such facts as patient research could dis-
cover. His official documents were models of lucidity
and precision. His counsel was penetrating and true and
bracing like fresh air in a stuffy room. His conversation,
particularly when he was describing the very human
traits of men and women he had known, was full of de-
lightful surprises because of his breathtaking forthright-
ness. He even carried in his pocketbook an exact paper
pattern of a hugh mountain trout he once caught as doc-
umentary evidence of his best fish story.

This characteristic of Bishop Cheshire must have been
in the author's mind when he wrote the following pages.
I believe that the good Bishop would approve this biog-
raphy for its restraint and disciplined faithfulness to the
record of a true life.

Ravenscroft

Raleigh, North Carolina

February lo, 1941.

Preface

From my earliest memories I can recall the annual visits
of Bishop Cheshire to the home of my parents. As very
young boys my brothers and I were fond of looking at
him, for with his flowing white beard and rather stocky
figure, he appeared a perfect embodiment of Santa Claus.
He readily gained our confidence with his frank and
open manner and his keen understanding of the sort of
things children were interested in. As I grew older he
won my complete affection and admiration. With his
many relatives and friends throughout North Carolina, I
felt particularly honored when he wrote me letters from
England during his visit there in 1920. The multipHcity
of such personal attentions was one of his characteristics
which gained for him the lasting affection of his people.
Although I have felt inadequate to the task of writing
Bishop Cheshire's life, I have found the work a labor of
love and a distinct privilege. Some persons will un-
doubtedly be disappointed that more stories of and about
the Bishop have not been included. The use of many of
his anecdotes has purposefully been avoided, since most
of them are much more delightfully told by the Bishop
himself in his charming volume of reminiscences, Non-
nulla. My primary object has been to present his accom-

vii

400833

viii Preface

plishments as deacon, priest, and bishop. His work in
these periods of his career merits preservation in some
permanent form for its own sake as well as for the
benefit of future churchmen. Also, an attempt has been
made to portray the Bishop's dynamic personaUty and
its striking influence upon the character of his work and
of his human contacts.

I wish to gratefully acknowledge the kind assistance
given me by Mr. Joseph B. Cheshire, Miss Sarah Cheshire,
and Mr. James W. Cheshire in reading this work and for
the generous loan of invaluable manuscripts. I also wish
to express my appreciation to my wife, Emily Dewey,
for her untiring help in criticizing and reworking the
manuscript, and to Bishop Edwin Anderson Penick and
Rev. Alfred S. Lawrence for reading the work.

Laimence F. London

Chapel Hill, North Carolina
December i, 1940.

Conteiits

I PAGE

FOREWORD, BY BISHOP EDWIN A. PENICK ... V

PREFACE vii

CHAPTER

I YOUTH AND MANHOOD I

II DEACON AND PRIEST 1 8

III SAINT Peter's parish 27

iv election to the episcopate 46

v first years in the episcopacy ^1^

vi man and bishop 77

vii historian 88

viii work among the colored people .... 99

ix development and conclusion of the

bishop's work 109

NOTES 127

PUBLISHED WRITINGS OF JOSEPH BLOUNT

CHESHIRE 131

INDEX 135

pisifjop Sos^epf) plount Cljesifjite

CHAPTER I

Youth and Mmihood

It was eleven o'clock one morning in the middle of
September, 1869, when Joseph Blount Cheshire stepped
into a classroom to teach a course in Latin. Before him
sat six boys, several of them older than himself. He was
only nineteen years old, and he was about to begin his
first job. The school was St. Clement's Hall at Ellicott
City, Maryland, and the assignment for that day was one
in Sallust. About all young Cheshire could recall of that
particular passage was its being one of the most difficult
he had ever tried to translate. He was faced with the
alternative of bluffing his way through or frankly con-
fessing to the boys that he was thoroughly unprepared
to teach the assignment. So, boldly facing his class, he
declared: "Young gentlemen, it is many years since I
last looked into Sallust, and this passage, Caesar's speech,
I remember as the most difficult passage in this book. I
am not prepared to deal with it today, but I will en-
deavor to be ready for you tomorrow."

This was a rule of life which he followed consist-
ently, to deal frankly and honestly with every situation,
no matter what it might cost him personally. Complete

2 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

fearlessness was one of Bishop Cheshire's most pro-
nounced characteristics. In his announced views on pub-
He questions, in the administration of his diocese, and in
his historical writings, his courage was often manifested.
His was not, however, a character which could be de-
scribed in a few striking phrases. The man can best be
understood by observing his deeds as they developed
from early youth until the end of a long life of four
score and two years.

In the mid-nineteenth century the quiet little town of
Tarboro, North Carolina, was like many other small
towns to be found in the Old South. It was one of the
oldest places in the state, having been founded in the
colonial period and given the distinction of a borough
town. Tarboro contained a fairly large number of old
established families and a few persons of some promi-
nence in the state. Not the least of these was the Rev.
Joseph Blount Cheshire, Rector of Calvary Episcopal
Church, a man who exemplified in his life and work the
best traditions of the Episcopal clergy.

Dr. Cheshire came of an old North Carolina family
which for several generations had lived in the Albemarle
section. One of his ancestors was Joseph Blount, who
was a member of the first vestry of St. Paul's parish,
Edenton. His parents, John Cheshire and Elizabeth
Blount, lived in Edenton, where he was born in Decem-
ber, 1 8 14. He received his education at the Edenton
Academy and at the Episcopal School for Boys. The lat-
ter school had just been founded by Bishop Ives and was
located in Raleigh on the site where now stands St.
Mary's Junior College. After completing his course at
the Episcopal School, he took up the study of law in
Raleigh under the supervision of Thomas P. Devereux.

Youth and Manhood 3

In 1836 he was admitted to the bar, but he evidently did
not find the law congenial to his tastes, for he soon
abandoned it. He decided to enter the ministry, and in
1838 began his studies for that field of work under the
direction of Bishop Ives.

During his preparation for the ministry he made the
acquaintance of the botanist and clergyman, Dr. AI.
Ashley Curtis. The interest which Dr. Curtis stimulated
in him for plants and flowers bore abundant fruit. The
beautiful grounds surrounding Calvary Church stand
today as a living expression of his love for flowers and
shrubs.

By February, 1840, Dr. Cheshire had advanced suffi-
ciently far in his theological studies to be ordained
deacon by Bishop Ives. The Bishop placed him in charge
of the parishes at HaUfax and Windsor. The next year
he was ordained priest and was given Calvary Church,
Tarboro, in addition to his other work. Shortly after
taking over this work he organized a mission at Scotland
Neck, which in time became Trinity parish. Three par-
ishes and a mission was a large assignment for a young
clergyman, but Dr. Cheshire was not daunted by the
extent of his duties. From the first his chief interest was
in the work at Tarboro. In consequence of this and the
desire of the Calvary Church people for more of his
time, he gave up the church at Halifax in 1848 and the
one at Windsor the following year. He retained his work
at Scotland Neck, however, until 1869. His pastorate at
Calvary Church continued for more than half a century.
During this long rectorship a beautiful new church was
built, to which he himself contributed generously.

Dr. Cheshire will probably be best remembered in the
history of the American Episcopal Church for the part

4 Bishop Joseph Blou?it Cheshire

he played in healing the breach between the northern and
southern branches of the church following the close of
the Civil War. He waged a determined fight in the dio-
cesan convention of 1865 to send deputies to the Gen-
eral Convention to be held that fall in Philadelphia. The
advocates of reconciliation were successful, and Dr.
Cheshire was elected one of the deputies to the General
Convention. At Philadelphia he used all his influence in
helping to bring about the reunion of the church.

Two years after he took charge of Calvary parish,
Dr. Cheshire was married to Elizabeth Toole Parker,
daughter of Theophilus Parker, his senior warden, and
Mary Toole Parker. The next most important event in
his life was the birth of his son and namesake, Joseph
Blount, who was bom on March 27, 1850. In the course
of time Dr. and Mrs. Cheshire had five other children,
Theophilus Parker, John, Elizabeth, Annie Gray, and
Katherine Drane. John and Elizabeth, however, died in
their second year.

Joseph Blount was bom in the house built many years
before by his grandfather, Theophilus Parker. His father
and mother had lived in it since their marriage and had
come into its possession after the death of his grand-
father. When Joseph was born his parents' household
consisted of themselves, his grandmother, an aunt, and
two cousins. With the subsequent births of his brothers
and sisters his family was indeed a large one. The give
and take of a large family probably played some part
in the development of the tolerant and unselfish charac-
ter which so distinguished him in manhood.

Young Cheshire received his earliest education under
the direction of his mother, who taught him reading,
writing, and something about numbers. He did not at-

Youth and Manhood 5

tend a formal school until he was nine years old. How-
ever, he found himself to be "quite as far advanced in
the knowledge of books as the most forward" of his
companions. The school he first attended in Tarboro
was taught by Rev. and Mrs. Owen. It was while attend-
ing this school that he and Richard Lewis met one an-
other and formed a friendship which grew and con-
tinued for more than three-score years.

In the fall of 1861 Cheshire entered the Tarboro Male
Academy, whose sole teacher at that time was Mr. Frank
S. Wilkinson, a graduate of the University of North
Carolina. In this school Wilkinson took boys of every
age, from beginners to those preparing for college.
Cheshire later tells us that Wilkinson was devoted to the
profession of teaching, laboring "faithfully to interest his
pupils, and give them the best that he had himself." The
school usually numbered between thirty and thirty-five
boys, but when it included as many as forty, Wilkinson
engaged an assistant. During Cheshire's attendance at the
Academy, Mr. William Henry Johnston was employed
as an assistant. He was also a graduate of the University
and, as Cheshire says, "a very good scholar after the
standards of the day." In this small school, which never
boasted more than two teachers at any one time, Joseph
Cheshire prepared himself for college.

Since the summer climate of Tarboro did not agree
with Dr. Cheshire's health, he purchased in 1850 a home
in Franklin County, about four miles from Louisburg.
This place was named Monreath and on it stood an old,
well-built house surrounded by one hundred and sixty
acres of land. Here the Cheshires spent their summers.
These pleasant vacations at Monreath caused Joseph to
lose about two months of school each year, since the fall

6 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

term began the middle of July. Therefore, in the sum-
mer of 1864 he asked his father if he could not attend
the Louisburg Academy from July to September. His
father readily agreed, and each day young Cheshire
walked the four miles into Louisburg to conjugate Latin
verbs and pursue the other fields of learning which made
up the curriculum of the average classical school of that
day.

During the Civil War the Cheshires did not suffer
from molestation by the enemy or from severe depriva-
tion as did many southern families. They gave shelter
and comfort to many refugees from the eastern part of
the state, which was occupied by federal troops. Writing
of his impressions of the war years, Cheshire observed:
"It is strange that almost all my memories of those trag-
ical days seem to be of bright and happy experiences. I
do not remember any atmosphere of gloom or depression.
The spirit of all was brave and bouyant." ^ The abolition
of slavery did not greatly affect the economic status of
his family, since his father owned only a few domestic
servants whom he had inherited.

Cheshire's religious education began, of course, at
home. Every Sunday afternoon he and his brother stood
before their mother with the Negro children and re-
peated their assigned part of the catechism. He did not
attend Sunday school until after he had learned all the
catechism, that is, all but the "Desire." He later re-
marked that he never learned it "so as not to forget it,"
and that it was the only thing he ever tried to remember
and failed.

By the fall of 1865 Cheshire was ready to enter col-
lege. It had been originally planned that he should go to
the University of North Carolina. But when the time

Youth and Manhood 7

arrived his father did not have the money to send him.
Dr. Cheshire, however, had already decided not to send
his son to the state University; he did not think the
environment there would be suitable for a boy of fifteen,
for a good many young soldiers, fresh from the careless
life of the army, were entering the University that fall.
Cheshire's best friend, Dick Lewis, and several others of
his class-mates went in the fall of 1865 to Mr. Graves'
school in Granville County. He was left in a class by
himself at the Tarboro Academy, where he continued
his studies under the direction of Mr. Wilkinson.

During this period of study at the Academy Cheshire
wrote an amusing and original essay on the subject of
honesty. Launching into his subject with the statement
that there had already been so much written upon it
that it was about worn out, he declared that he chose the
topic for want of a better one. This introduction was
succeeded by the following:

"I have been thinking for a long time what else to say
about 'Honesty,' but can't think of a single thing which
some other boy has not said in his composition since I
have been going to school: and I think that I had better
practice what I have here attempted to preach, and tell
you, Mr. Wilkinson, that it is Monday morning, and
that composition never entered into my head Saturday,
and so you need not expect much. Instead of a composi-
tion I will give you an account of my doings Saturday
evening, which I hope you will take as an equivalent."

Cheshire then gave an interesting description of a de-
lightful horseback ride he had had with a young lady.
He concluded his essay by saying: "I hope this will be
taken as a composition. If it is not I hope you will return

8 Bishop Joseph Blomit Cheshire

it as there is enough clean paper on it to write another
one." ^ The composition is not only worth quoting for
its originality, but also because it brings out a pro-
nounced characteristic of the later man. Complete hon-
esty with himself as well as others, under all conditions,
was one of his most outstanding qualities.

Joseph continued his studies under Mr. Wilkinson
until February, 1866. By that time Dr. Cheshire had
secured sufficient funds with which to send his son to
college. He was still opposed to sending him to the Uni-
versity for the reason already mentioned and because he
felt the fate of that institution at the time was most
uncertain. He decided, therefore, to send Joseph to Trin-
ity College at Hartford, Connecticut. Trinity was an
excellent school, under the management of the church,
and Dr. Cheshire was personally acquainted with its
president.

Before his son left home for college. Dr. Cheshire told
him that he must decide while in school what he wished
to do for his life's work. He explained that since he had
other children to educate, he would not be able to help
him after graduation. His father went on to say that it
would be a great happiness to him if his son should decide
to go into the ministry, but that was something he must
determine for himself, Cheshire later remarked that this
was the only time in his memory that his father ever
spoke to him of the possibility of making the ministry
his life's work.

In late February of 1866 young Cheshire left home
for Hartford. An inexperienced boy, having traveled
little beyond his section of the state, he now set out to
enter a strange school among people with whom, less
than a year ago, his people had been at war. Such a

Youth and Manhood 9

prospect would have filled an older heart with trepida-
tion. He traveled as far as New York with a stranger
who had been in Tarboro on business, and from thence
he went alone to Hartford.

Cheshire was allowed to enter the Freshman class with
conditions only in Greek and Latin composition, which
was a tribute to the work done under Mr. Wilkinson
that fall. He learned upon arriving at school that he
was the first man from the Confederate States to enter
Trinity since the close of the war. He was treated kindly
by his fellow students, and never complained of any
hostility or unfriendliness on the part of the northern
boys. His closest friends, however, were among a group
of students from Maryland.

Shortly after he entered college, his father wrote to
President Kerfoot asking him to suggest someone on the
faculty who would be willing to act as an advisor and
friend to his son. Dr. Kerfoot proposed Rev. William
W. Niles, Professor of Latin at Trinity, who gladly took
Cheshire under his care. In time the two became fast
friends. Professor Niles and his wife often entertained
him and always made him feel at home in their house.
Under Professor Niles' direction Cheshire was prepared
for confirmation, and in May, 1866, he was confirmed
in the college chapel. In later years he said of the Nileses:
"I can never be sufficiently grateful to Professor Niles
and his good wife. ... I enjoyed from that time— from
my Freshman days in college to the end of their Hves,
the friendship and confidence of these most admirable
people." ^

Dr. Cheshire had a good deal of difficulty in main-
taining his son at college. The years im.mediately follow-
ing the war were hard ones for almost all southerners,

I o Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

and the Cheshire family was no exception. When Chesh-
ire came home for the Christmas hohdays of 1867, his
father told him that he would be unable to send him
back to college. He accepted this decision as final, and
wrote his roommate, Robert F. Bixby, that he was not
returning to college after the holidays. Not long after-
wards. Dr. Cheshire received a letter from Professor
Pynchon, a member of the Trinity faculty, who in-
formed him that a friend, who wished to withhold his
name, would be happy to advance the necessary money
for his son's monthly board if that would be sufficient to
make his return to college possible. After talking the
matter over with his son. Dr. Cheshire accepted the
generous offer, since he believed he would be able to
repay the full amount by the end of 1868. In this way
young Cheshire was able to resume his work at Trinity,
receiving each month through Dr. Pynchon the money
for his board. As he had anticipated. Dr. Cheshire was
able to repay the whole debt at the end of 1868. Al-
though he never knew, Cheshire suspected that the
money, so badly needed at the time, came from the
father of his friend, Robert Bixby.

During his first two years at Trinity, Cheshire had
come to know Rev. John Williams, Bishop of Connecti-
cut and one-time Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal
Church, who often visited the college. When school
closed in June, 1868, Cheshire found that he was not
financially able to go home for the summer vacation, and
that he would have to remain in Hartford. Bishop Wil-
liams heard of his plans and thereupon invited him to
his old home in Deerfield, Massachusetts, for a month.
The Bishop said that he could serve as his secretary, and
on this condition Cheshire gladly accepted the invitation.

Youth and Manhood

1 1

As it turned out, he had very Httle to do. He spent the
month most delightfully, meeting many interesting peo-
ple and visiting near-by historical places. After leaving
Bishop Williams, he spent a pleasant month in Maryland
visiting two of his college friends. Thus most of the sum-
mer passed rapidly, and he returned to Hartford greatly
refreshed, ready to begin the last year of his collegiate
work.

While at Trinity Cheshire became a member of the
Phi Kappa fraternity, now the Alpha Delta Phi. He was
the only member of his class who belonged to this fra-
ternity. Consequently, Cheshire modestly explains, when-
ever an honor fell to a Phi Kappa of his class he was the
only one to receive it. Whether this was the reason or
not, he was made president of the Senior class, and was
elected a marshal for the commencement of 1868. As
for class and college prizes, he never entered a contest
until his last year. At this time he entered the competi-
tion for the "Tuttle Prize," which was an award of
thirty dollars for the best essay by a senior on a subject
to be chosen by the faculty. The topic selected for
Cheshire's class was "The Causes of the French Revolu-
tion." Cheshire submitted a paper of forty-eight fools-
cap pages. Much to his gratification, and somewhat to his
surprise, his essay won the prize. With the money he
purchased "Pratt's Complete Works of Bishop Hall" in
ten volumes as a gift for his father. For himself he
bought a set of Chaucer's works in eight volumes and
a few other books. Indeed, he seems to have made his
prize money go far and to much advantage.

In June, 1869, Cheshire's college days came to a close.
During his three and one-half years at Trinity he made
many close friendships which continued throughout his

1 2 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

life. He was not an outstanding student, but did cred-
itably in all his courses. At the commencement exercises
he delivered an original address, which was required of all
graduates. He chose as the subject of his senior oration
"The Strength of Republican Governments," a topic
characteristic of that period. Cheshire had been influenced
in the choice of this subject by De Tocqueville's Dernoc-
racy in America^ in which he had become interested.
Following his graduation he returned to North Carolina,
where he spent the summer of 1869 with his family at
Monreath. This was his last long vacation. He was soon
to take over his first position and to begin earning for
the remainder of his life his own way.

In the course of graduation week at Trinity, Cheshire
had the good fortune of making the acquaintance of Rev.
John Avery Shepherd of Maryland. Dr. Shepherd had
organized a few years before a private school, which he
called St. Clement's Hall, at Ellicott City near Balti-
more. Being favorably impressed with Cheshire's per-
sonality and his record at Trinity, Dr. Shepherd offered
him a position in his school teaching Latin and Greek
for the scholastic year 1869-70. His salary was to be six
hundred dollars a year in addition to board and lodging.
Cheshire gladly accepted the position, since he wished
no longer to be a burden on his father. His younger
brother was then ready to enter college and was only
waiting for him to finish.

In the middle of September Cheshire left Monreath to
take up his duties at St. Clement's Hall. Before he left
home his father gave him fifty dollars to aid him until
he should receive a part of his salary. This was the last
time he ever gave him any money, that is, from a feeling
of responsibility for his son's support.

Youth and Manhood 1 3

At St. Clement's Cheshire was given all the upper
classes in Latin and Greek, and in addition taught some
arithmetic and algebra. In consequence of his rather poor
beginning in Latin and Greek at the Tarboro Academy,
he never became a scholar in these fields. While teaching
Latin he became more interested in this subject and
read rather widely in Tacitus and other Latin authors.
In the course of his busy life of teaching he found time
to continue "a kind of study" of Blackstone which he
had begun in his senior year at Trinity. He also read
through Kent's Coiiwientaries and a good deal of English
poetry.

Cheshire came to know a number of people in the
neighborhood of the school who helped to make his life
at St. Clement's more interesting and pleasant. He spent
a good many week-ends in Baltimore with some of his
Trinity friends. When his oldest and best friend, Richard
Lewis, came to Baltimore to study medicine in the fall
of 1870, his visits became more frequent. On the whole,
his life at St. Clement's was happy, and the experience he
gained, worth while. He never, however, became fond
of teaching, but he enjoyed his students and took a warm
personal interest in them. After two years at St. Clem-
ent's he decided to abandon teaching for the law pro-
fession, which he thought would be more congenial to
his tastes.

When Cheshire returned to North Carolina in June,
1 87 1, he went with his family to Hillsboro to spend the
summer. Here he began the study of law under the emi-
nent lawyer, William K. Ruffin, son of Chief Justice
Thomas Ruffin, who coached law students since he was
too crippled to do much active practice. Ruffin was a
"devotee" of the common law and always gave his stu-

14 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

dents a thorough drilling in it. He made Cheshire devote
almost all the summer to the study of Second Blackstone
and Cruise's Real Property. When he left Hillsboro in
September, Ruffin made him promise that he would se-
cure an old folio edition of Coke's CoTTtmentaries on Lit-
tleton and read it carefully. Some time later Cheshire
bought a copy of this work in Baltimore and read it from
cover to cover as he had promised. He once remarked
that he believed he was the last man in North Carolina
to have completely read the old folio edition. Cheshire
found Mr. William Ruffin "a most interesting man as
well as a stimulating and helpful teacher." ^

Upon returning to Tarboro Cheshire continued his
study of law, now in the office of Howard and Perry.
In this office he "read law," for he says that Judge
George Howard would not agree to give him any in-
struction. Cheshire, however, maintained that he learned
much law from Judge Howard, and "a good deal of
sound practical wisdom."

After his summer's work under William Ruffin and
some three months' study in Judge Howard's office,
Cheshire was ready to try for his license. On January i,
1872, he went to Raleigh to be examined by the Supreme
Court Justices. It was an oral test and, in Cheshire's own
words, was "a very slight and superficial examination"
in comparison with those given today. The day after
the examination he was informed that he had passed and
was granted his license.

Shortly afterwards George G. Hooper, a Trinity Col-
lege friend, wrote Cheshire to come to Baltimore and
join him in a law partnership. He did not particularly
care to leave North Carolina, but he feared if he re-

Youth and Manhood 1 5

mained he might be a burden on his father while estab-
lishing himself. He accordingly accepted Hooper's offer,
and the two men formed a partnership under the firm
name of Hooper and Cheshire. Hooper agreed to pay
him a salary for the first year, at the end of which time
they would make a new agreement.

Cheshire had not been in the office long before he
learned that Hooper had "little real law practice." His
work was almost entirely confined to drawing up con-
veyances and examining land titles. After some fifteen
months of this sort of work, Cheshire realized there was
little future for him in such a partnership. It was, there-
fore, with much pleasure that he received, in May, 1873,
a letter from his friend, John L. Bridgers, Jr., asking him
to return to Tarboro and join him and his father. Colonel
John L. Bridgers, in the practice of law. Cheshire readily
accepted this proposal, and the following month came
back to North Carolina where he was to make his home
for the remainder of his life.

Cheshire was happy to be hving in Tarboro once
again with his family and among his old friends. Thus
was formed the firm of Bridgers, Cheshire, and Bridgers.
This connection continued until January, 1875, at which
time Cheshire was offered the position of secretary and
treasurer of the PamUco Banking and Insurance Com-
pany, a corporation organized to solicit fire insurance.
He accepted the offer because it gave him an office and
a small salary and did not interfere with his law practice.
The company's business was not extensive, and required
only a few hours of his time each day. While holding
this position he was also treasurer of the Tarboro Build-

1 6 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

ing and Loan Association. Again this ofEce demanded
little of his time, merely requiring that he receive the
money from the secretary weekly and pay it out upon his
order.

Cheshire continued the practice of law until the early
part of 1878. In summing up his work at the bar, he
observed: "I made a living and saved a few hundred
dollars. I had no very interesting or important cases, so
far as I recall." ^ During his last year of practice, how-
ever, he made a little over fifteen hundred dollars, which,
for a young lawyer of that period, was doing quite well.

Since leaving St. Clement's Hall in June, 1871, Chesh-
ire had not by any means devoted all of his time and
thought to the study and practice of law. He accom-
plished a great deal more in the summer of 1871 than the
study of common law under Mr. William K. Ruffin. It
was then that he renewed his acquaintance with his
cousin. Miss Annie Huske Webb, who lived in Hillsboro.
He had seen this cousin but little since her visit to Tar-
boro in December, 1865. He always remembered the
first time he saw her upon her arrival in Tarboro for
that visit and described the meeting thus: "When I looked
at her, as she came in out of the rain, and lifted the veil
from her face, I thought her the most beautiful person I
had ever seen. I think that first impression was never
effaced." «

In the course of the summer spent in Hillsboro Chesh-
ire saw a good deal of his cousin. It was not long before
he realized that he was in love with her. While not pos-
sessing a particularly romantic nature, Cheshire was a
man of deep emotions and fine sentiments. During his
courtship of Miss Webb he composed for her this little
poem:

Youth and Manhood 1 7

A. H. W.

My Love is a fair white Lily,

And she loves not the day's full glare,
But she seeks out a quiet valley,

And she lifts up her sweet face there.
The blue heavens through the branches

Look down with their kindly light;
And she smiles back a gentle greeting

When the stars look through at night.
The song-birds sing to her sweetly,

And she's rocked by the gentle breeze;
And she hides from the storms of Winter

'Midst the roots of the giant trees.
She peeps in the crystal streamlet,

As she nods in the breezes light:
And she knows not her own fair beauty,

But is glad that she's pure and white.'^

By May, 1872, Cheshire and Annie Huske Webb were
engaged; but it was not until 1874 that he felt he was
financially able to marry. On December 17 of that year
they were married in St. Matthew's Church, Hillsboro.
They had a simple wedding with Richard Lewis as his
best man. The following day Cheshire and his wife went
to Tarboro, where for the next four years they made
their home with his family.

With this, the greatest event in his life up to that time,
we close the first phase of Cheshire's career. During the
period he had grown to manhood, received his scholastic
and collegiate education, taught for two years, studied
law and practiced it for six years, and had some little
part in the business world. All of this training and varied
experience gave him a rich background for the great
work which lay ahead of him.

CHAPTER II

Deacon and Priest

Ever since he left college Cheshire had been conscious
of a growing desire to become a candidate for Holy-
Orders. Not long after his marriage he spoke to his
wife of this aspiration, and told her he had now decided
to present himself to the Bishop. He had not come to
this decision earlier because he was determined not to go
into the ministry until he had made a success of what he
was doing at that time. He would not enter the ministry
as a failure from another field of work. By the middle of
1876 he decided that he was making a respectable living
for his wife and himself. He thereupon told his father
of his decision and sent Bishop Atkinson his application.
Shortly afterwards the Bishop accepted him as a candi-
date for Holy Orders, and Cheshire began preparing
himself for his new work.

It was Cheshire's original plan to attend the General
Theological Seminary in New York for a year or two,
but Bishop Atkinson and his father dissuaded him from
this course because they objected to the Dean of the
Seminary and because they felt that its ritualistic influ-
ences were too strong. Bishop Atkinson thought that,

Deacon and Priest 1 9

since Cheshire had had a good classical education, had
pursued intellectual interests, and had been reared in a
clergyman's family, he could quite adequately do his
preparatory work at home. Cheshire accepted the Bish-
op's advice, and at once began a well laid-out course
of reading. He had already read a good many ecclesiasti-
cal works, since he had been contemplating this step for
some time.

At the end of 1877 he gave up his connection with
the Pamlico Insurance and Banking Company, and soon
afterwards concluded his legal affairs. In September,
1877, he went to Raleigh to stand his examinations for
the diaconate before Rev. Dr. Matthias M. Marshall and
Rev. John E. C. Smedes. Having passed his examinations
acceptably, Cheshire was ordained deacon by Bishop
Atkinson on April 21, 1878, in Calvary Church, Tar-
boro. His father presented him for ordination. The fol-
lowing Sunday he assisted his father in the morning
service and preached his first sermon. Thus he was
launched upon a new career in which he was to rise to
heights far beyond his modest dreams.

When Dr. Kemp Plummer Battle, President of the
University of North Carolina, heard that Cheshire was
studying for the ministry, he asked Bishop Atkinson to
send him to Chapel Hill. Dr. Battle was a native of Edge-
combe County and had known Cheshire and his family
for many years. Since the revival of the University in
1875, ^^y- Robert B. Sutton, of Pittsboro, had from
time to time held services in the Chapel of the Cross.
The Chapel Hill churchmen, however, felt that the par-
ish needed a regular and resident minister. The Bishop
complied with Dr. Battle's request and informed Cheshire
that he was to serve his diaconate in Chapel Hill under

2 0 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

the direction of Dr. Sutton. This was a disappointment
to Cheshire, for he had hoped he would be able to re-
main in Edgecombe County and strengthen the church's
position there. The Bishop also directed him to hold a
regular appointment in the rapidly growing town of
Durham, where as yet there was not even an established
mission. This was a difficult assignment for a young
deacon just beginning his ministry. In Chapel Hill he had
to revive an old parish which had fallen somewhat into
decay during the hard years of the reconstruction period,
while in Durham he had to build from the ground up,
commencing with only a handful of church people.

Cheshire came to Chapel Hill in May, and on the
nineteenth of that month held his first service in the
Chapel of the Cross. President Battle invited him to make
his home at his house until he could find a suitable place.
Cheshire accepted this generous offer and spent several
weeks with the Battles. In consequence of a long illness,
contracted soon after his arrival, he did not hold another
service in Chapel Hill until the last Sunday in June. The
next Sunday he was able to keep his first appointment in
Durham, but following this service, he had a serious
relapse and was unable to continue his work until early
fall.

For a few weeks that fall Cheshire boarded at the
hotel, while his wife visited her family in Hillsboro. This
gave him an excellent opportunity to come into close
contact with the students, many of whom took their
meals at the hotel. In this way he came to know a num-
ber of students who were not members of his church.
Throughout his rectorship in Chapel Hill he made it a
point to know all the students who were in any way
connected with the Episcopal Church. In a compara-

Deacon and Priest 2 1

tively short time he was on friendly terms with most
of the small student body.

Cheshire frankly confessed that in the first exercise
of his ministerial duties among the students he felt "great
embarrassment" and even some "timidity." He explained:
"I had not been accustomed to speak much of my own re-
ligious feelings; and I was at a loss how to make a proper
approach to the subject of another person's religious
duties and convictions." ^ He visited the boys in their
rooms when he thought they liked it, but never sought
to force himself upon them. Cheshire later declared he
did not remember ever approaching a student on the
subject of religion without receiving a serious and cour-
teous hearing. Many students seemed to appreciate the
interest he took in their religious hfe. Cheshire himself
was only a few years older than many of the under-
graduates and, therefore, could understand their point of
view and enter sympathetically into their problems. The
effectiveness of his first year's work in Chapel Hill was
demonstrated when Bishop Lyman made his visitation
to the Chapel of the Cross in May, 1879. Cheshire pre-
sented to the Bishop for confirmation nine students and
two girls of the village. In later years he remarked that
this was "one of the most interesting and satisfactory
classes I ever presented."

When he first began preaching, Cheshire took great
pains in the preparation of his sermons, writing them
out in full. He freely admitted he had "no special gifts
or talents as a speaker." In discussing the problem of
preaching with Cheshire just after his ordination. Bishop
Atkinson said he would give him the same advice which
Bishop Johns, of Virginia, used to give his young deacons:
"Choose a pretty long text, so that if they persecute you

2 2 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

in one city, you may flee to another." Cheshire began,
in time, to memorize his sermons and then to attempt to
preach extemporaneously, but he always felt that his
written sermons were better. Concerning the reception
of his sermons in Chapel Hill, he stated: "My Chapel
Hill congregation seemed to me most considerate and
appreciative of my attempts at preaching, even the stu-
dents of the University, so far as I could judge." ^

In his congregation Cheshire had some of the most
distinguished members of the University faculty. Presi-
dent Battle was his senior warden and sincere friend, who
gave him "judicious praise" as well as sound advice as to
the pitfalls which a young clergyman might expect to
encounter. Dr. J. de Bemiere Hooper, Professor of
Greek, was in Cheshire's opinion, "the most scholarly
and highly cultivated" member of his parish. Professors
Ralph Graves and George T. Winston, both young men
who were later to win fame, were also members of his
congregation. He lived on friendly relations with these
and other members of the small faculty.

When Mrs. Cheshire came to Chapel Hill, she and her
husband moved to the home of Dr. William P. Mallett,
where they lived until the early part of 1879. They then
took over the parish rectory, a small four-room house
with a kitchen in the back yard. It faced Rosemary Lane
and was situated on a two-acre lot, on part of which
stands the present rectory. Their families and parish-
ioners furnished the house for them quite comfortably.
There was a small debt on the rectory, and, prior to
Cheshire's coming to the parish, it had been rented to
assist in retiring the obhgation. When he moved into the
rectory, he agreed to pay the interest on the debt, not-
withstanding that his salary was only five hundred dollars

Deacon and Priest 2 3

a year. It was not easy, even in those days, to live on such
a small income, but Cheshire often remarked that his
years in Chapel Hill were "as happy, I believe, as pos-
sible in this world." He was fortunate in realizing his
happiness at the time and often spoke of it to his wife.
To make their happiness complete, a second child,*
Elizabeth Toole, was born to them in the summer of

1879.

Although the parish in Chapel Hill was his chief

charge, Cheshire did not think that it had an exclusive
claim upon him. He regarded it as a center from which
to work. In the fall of 1878 he began to lay definite
plans for what was to be an important missionary work
in Durham. After surveying the prospects there Cheshire,
with the co-operation of his little flock, was able to rent
a hall on Main Street which was ordinarily used for
public entertainments. Here he held services on the first
Sunday in every month. The work in Durham prospered
remarkably, considering that the congregation had no
church building of their own. Cheshire and his congre-
gation soon realized, however, that if much progress was
to be made, they must have a church. The greatest
difficulty at first was to find a lot within their means.
Finally, one was purchased at a low price because of its
undesirability from a business standpoint. In the spring
of 1880 the foundations of the little church were laid.
Since his congregation could bear only a small part
of the cost of building a church, Cheshire had to ask for
assistance elsewhere. His family and friends in Edge-
combe County contributed about one-fourth of the total
cost. In a communication to the Church Messenger

* The first child was born in March, 1878, but died only a few days
after birth.

24 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

Cheshire requested the rectors of the larger parishes of
the Diocese to contribute one Sunday's offering to the
completion of the Durham church. On the general sub-
ject of soliciting aid for religious purposes, he declared:
"Indiscriminate begging from anybody and everybody
to the neglect of every consideration, except the chance
of getting a dollar, is not becoming to the cause of reli-
gion, and is a positive discouragement to Christian liber-
ality." This was the kind of soliciting which he never
practiced. Throughout his ministry he requested aid for
the church of only those who he felt were rightfully
responsible for its support.

By the spring of 1881 the church was completed at a
cost of about twenty-five hundred dollars. In a remark-
ably short time, less than a year and a half, the money
had been raised and the building erected. Cheshire named
it "St. Philip, the Deacon," feeling it to be the "fruit"
of his work as a deacon. It was with much pride and
happiness that, on July 24, 1881, he assisted Bishop Ly-
man in the consecration of St. Philip's— a fitting close
to his work in that mission.^

Cheshire never expected, nor did he ever receive, any
compensation from the Diocese for his missionary activi-
ties. Concerning extra parochial work, he said: "I did
not look upon work outside the parish as extra work, for
which I should receive extra remuneration or special
commendation." * Shortly after Cheshire began his work
in Durham, the Treasurer of the Diocese sent him a
check for twenty dollars, which he promptly returned,
saying that he "did not desire to receive anything from
the Diocesan Treasury." ^ During his three years of
service in Durham the Httle mission paid him small
amounts from time to time, which approximately covered

Deacon and Priest 25

the expenses he incurred. He looked upon his labors for
this mission as "a pure work of love and missionary enter-
prise." In recalling this experience, he declared: "I be-
lieve I vi^orked harder and with more enthusiasm in my
Mission of St. PhiHp's, Durham, and afterwards in estab-
lishing St. Mark's Church, Mecklenburg County, than
in any other work I ever undertook. . . ." ^

While carrying forward his constructive work in
Chapel Hill and in Durham, Cheshire did not overlook
his preparation for the priesthood, although, as he re-
marked, he did not "feel that impatience to get out of
the Diaconate," which he often observed in young
clergymen. During his leisure hours he read widely and
thoroughly, and was well prepared when the time came
for his advancement. At the close of the diocesan con-
vention, held in Winston-Salem, he was ordained priest
by Bishop Lyman in St. Paul's Church on May 30, 1880.
He was presented for ordination by Rev. John E. C.
Smedes, and the sermon for the occasion was preached
by Dr. Alfred Watson, later Bishop of East Carolina.
Commenting upon the ordination service, the Church
Messenger said of Cheshire: "thoroughly active, he will
do a work that will tell in the diocese."

During his ministry in Chapel Hill Cheshire received
calls from several parishes, all of which offered him a
better salary than he was then receiving, but he usually
declined them by return mail. In the winter of 1881
the vestry of St. Matthew's, Hillsboro, and the church
in Burlington asked him to take charge of their parishes.
This prospect appealed to him strongly, since he would
live in Hillsboro, his wife's old home, where they had
many kinsfolk and friends. Before taking any action, how-
ever, he consulted Bishop Lyman, who replied that he

26 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

preferred Cheshire to remain in Chapel Hill where he
was doing a good work. He accepted the Bishop's de-
cision and declined the call to Hillsboro.

About two months later Cheshire received a call from
St. Peter's, Charlotte, which he declined immediately.
Hearing of this action, Bishop Lyman wrote him that he
wished him to accept the charge of St. Peter's. Cheshire
replied that he had refused to go to Charlotte because
the Bishop had instructed him, only a few months earlier,
to remain in Chapel Hill. Bishop Lyman, hov/ever, an-
swered that he had directed the vestry of St. Peter's to
call him again "and he ivould see to it^^ that Cheshire
accepted. The call was accordingly renewed, and Chesh-
ire went to Charlotte to interview the vestry. He told
them that he accepted the charge because he felt it his
"duty to respect the wishes of the Bishop." Cheshire
often remarked that during his ministry he never ac-
cepted a call to any parish, explaining that the Bishop
had directed him to go to Chapel Hill and later to the
parish in Charlotte. This was not said in a spirit of criti-
cism of his Bishop but merely as a statement of fact, for
he also declared that he "preferred" to have his work
given him. Throughout his long life of service he always
had the feeling of doing a work assigned to him.

Cheshire quite naturally regretted leaving Chapel Hill,
for he had been happy in his work there. He was also
reluctant to part with his mission in Durham, which was
created in a very real sense by his own labors. Recalling
the first three years of his ministry, he declared: "I look
upon my life at Chapel Hill as my pupilage, the com-
pletion of my training for my life work." '

CHAPTER III

Saint Peter^s Parish

Cheshire entered upon his work in Charlotte with a feel-
ing that here he had an excellent opportunity for ex-
tending the influence of his church, particularly in the
missionary field. He did not feel any fear or trepidation
at the thought of this larger and more difficult work,
although he had no great confidence in his own ability.
He went to his new parish with the determination to
give to it his best, and throughout his rectorate there he
never lost sight of that ideal. When some of his friends
heard that he was going to St. Peter's, they told him he
was taking over one of the hardest and most undesirable
parishes in the Diocese. This was indeed a discouraging
description of his new work, but after serving twelve
years at St. Peter's, Cheshire remarked that he had found
nothing which would justify such a characterization of
that parish.

Cheshire did not bring his wife and children to Char-
lotte at once but left them in Chapel Hill for the summer.
During this time he lived with Mr. John Wilkes, the
senior warden of the parish, and took his meals at a board-
ing house. Finding no parish rectory in Charlotte, he

2 8 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

bought a house on North Church Street. This purchase
took all he had saved from his law practice, plus an addi-
tional thousand dollars which he had to borrow. His
salary from St. Peter's being twelve hundred dollars a
year, he was able to carry a debt of this amount. With
a salary this size he felt that he had been "raised to a
condition of affluence." In an exuberance of generosity
he offered to become responsible for the support of an
orphan in one of the foreign mission orphanages. For
some reason his proposal was not accepted. It was not
long, however, before he found that his salary was little
if any above his actual needs.

When Cheshire became rector of St. Peter's there
were one hundred and thirty-seven communicants in
the parish. Mr. John Wilkes and Colonel Hamilton C.
Jones were his senior and junior wardens, respectively.
These men were quite different in temperament, but
both were sincerely devoted to the welfare of the church.
The young rector found in them staunch friends and
helpful advisors. One of the first tasks Cheshire set for
himself was to visit and become acquainted with each
member of his congregation. After making a careful
study of the parish register, he purchased a small memo-
randum book in which he wrote down the full name,
age, and church status of each person connected with
St. Peter's. By the end of his first summer in Charlotte
he had become fairly well acquainted with most of his
parishioners.

One of Cheshire's predecessors at St. Peter's was the
Rev. Benjamin S. Bronson, rector of the parish from
1867 to 1878. He had been greatly interested in institu-
tional work, and had begun several enterprises in the

Saint Peter^s Parish 2 9

course of his ministry in Charlotte. None of these, how-
ever, was carried to a successful conclusion under his
direction. Mr. Bronson's capacity seemed to be limited to
merely initiating worth-while projects. His efforts were
not futile, for he instilled in his congregation a deep
interest in this type of work. Cheshire often said that
what he was able to accomplish in Charlotte was due in
part to the enthusiasm for institutional work which Mr.
Bronson had aroused in his parishioners. He confessed
that he did not have the type of mind which readily
produced original ideas: "I think I can only methodize
and put into practice ideas I get from others." ^ Al-
though he exaggerated his lack of originality, he was
strikingly successful in taking a good idea or suggestion
and making it work.

When Cheshire came to Charlotte he found one of
Mr. Bronson's charities still in existence, although in a
sadly neglected condition. This was a four-room house
which was known as St. Peter's Home and Hospital.
The good work which was being done in a very small
way by this institution strongly appealed to Cheshire.
He regularly visited the sick there, and soon began to
lay plans for enlarging its usefulness. For this purpose
he enlisted the aid of a retired clergyman, Rev. Lucian
Holmes, who was then conducting in Charlotte a small
school for boys. Mr. Holmes visited the people of the
city, soliciting contributions ranging from ten cents to
one dollar a month. His efforts were successful, and in
a comparatively short time the little hospital was assured
of a modest monthly income. It was planned that the
women on the Board of Managers of the hospital should
collect the pledges. Thus, under Cheshire's direction, St.

30 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

Peter's hospital was firmly established and has continued
to grow in usefulness to the community from that time
to the present day.

Shortly after becoming rector of St. Peter's, Cheshire
began to take an active interest in the church's work
among the Negroes. He found among a large Negro
population only one communicant. Prior to the Civil
War Negroes had worshiped with the whites, sitting in
galleries erected for their use. Following the war and
reconstruction, however, the church had of necessity
been forced to curtail its work among the Negroes. He
recognized in this condition an opportunity for a great
work. Since his parish was large and demanded the
greater part of his time, he asked Bishop Lyman to send
him an unmarried clergyman who could devote all his
efforts to the Negro work. The Bishop complied with
his request, and in the spring of 1882 sent Rev. Charles
C. Quin to Charlotte. Quin received a stipend of two
hundred dollars a year from the Diocese, which Cheshire
supplemented with fifty dollars out of his own pocket.
In addition, Quin lived with the Cheshires, who gave
him his room and board.

After securing an assistant for the Negro work, Chesh-
ire's next step was to find a place in which to worship.
He found an old house in the Negro section of Charlotte,
which he bought and remodeled sufficiently to make it
serve as a mission. He named the little chapel St. Michael
and All Angels. Although Quin was placed in charge of
this mission, Cheshire held an evening service there every
second Sunday. In this way he was able to keep in per-
sonal contact with the congregation.

The work progressed so well that it was not long be-
fore the need for a larger church was apparent. Seeing this

Saint Peter^s Parish 3 1

need, Cheshire soHcited contributions for a new church
from his parishioners and from various churchmen
throughout the Diocese. He sent Quin to Pennsylvania,
New York, and Connecticut with letters to his friends
in those states, asking for assistance. Cheshire and Quin
were fairly successful in their efforts to raise funds for
the new church, and in the spring of 1883 the corner-
stone was laid. In the course of the year the nave and
chancel were completed, while the transepts were left
to be finished at some future time. It was a well-built
brick church and large enough to allow for considerable
growth in the congregation. It stands today as a testi-
monial to Cheshire's zeal in advancing the work of the
church. Shortly after it was built, Quin resigned and was
succeeded by Rev. Primus P. Alston, a colored clergy-
man, who remained in charge of the parish for over
twenty years. St. Michael and All Angels was now prac-
tically independent of St. Peter's, although it was still
under Cheshire's general direction.

While in the process of establishing St. Michael's,
Cheshire was at the same time engaged in another mis-
sionary enterprise. He found in a section of Charlotte,
known as Mechanicsville, a number of families who were
members of the Episcopal Church but were not con-
nected with St. Peter's parish. Seeing an opportunity to
extend the work of the parish, he determined to bring
the services of the church to these people. He began by
establishing a Sunday school in an abandoned school-
house in this section. The Sunday school gradually ex-
panded into a little mission, which he called St. Martin's.
Not long after the mission was started, the building in
which the services were held was destroyed by fire. Not
permitting this misfortune to discourage him, he began

3 2 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

almost at once to lay plans for the erection of a chapel
on the same location.

After negotiating with the Charlotte school board, he
was able to buy the property for fifteen hundred dollars,
to be paid in three installments. Cheshire himself paid
the first installment of five hundred dollars, while two
of his parishioners guaranteed the remainder. He pro-
cured his part of the cost by selling a lot in Tarboro
which his father had given him. When the land was
bought, he began the work of raising money for the
erection of a chapel. His loyal friend, Mr. John Wilkes,
came forward as usual and supported him generously
with both time and money. Other friends came to his
assistance, and work was soon started on the building.
Cheshire organized the Guild of St. Martin to help him
in carrying forward the work on the chapel. Some time
before it was completed, he began to hold a service in the
little church every Sunday night. This service was in
addition to three others which he held each Sunday at
St. Peter's. Thus, Cheshire had literally built from the
ground up the mission of St. Martin's. It maintained a
steady growth and in time became one of the larger
parishes of the Diocese.

There seems to have been almost no limit to Cheshire's
missionary fervor. He was not content to confine his
labors to the bounds of Charlotte. Shortly after coming
to St. Peter's he visited Monroe, and there he found a
number of churchmen who at one time had been served
by the rector at Wadesboro. At the request of these
churchmen Cheshire gave them a monthly service, being
assisted for a time by Mr. Quin. In 1885 the work at
Monroe was turned over to Rev. Edwin A. Osborne.
During his rectorate at St. Peter's Cheshire also held

5^/72^ Peter^s Parish 3 3

services from time to time at Rockingham, Mooresville,
Mount Moume, and Davidson College. He did not, how-
ever, succeed in establishing a permanent mission at any
one of these places. If he had had more time to devote
to this distant missionary work, he might have met with
better success.

In the fall of 1883 there came to Cheshire an oppor-
tunity to do what he later characterized as "the most
entirely gratifying and successful work of all my mis-
sionary undertakings." ^ Columbus W. McCoy, of Long
Creek Township, Mecklenburg County, invited Cheshire
to hold a service in his community, stating that a num-
ber of people in his neighborhood had manifested an
interest in the Episcopal Church. McCoy had formerly
been a Presbyterian, but having become acquainted with
the Book of Common Prayer, he expressed a desire to
join the Episcopal Church. Cheshire accepted the invi-
tation, and on November 18 held his first service there
in the community schoolhouse. He passed the night with
Mr. McCoy and spent the next day in visiting the people
of the neighborhood. He felt that "very little can be
accomplished in a new field by merely having a service,
even a Sunday service, unless time is given to personal
familiar visiting from house to house, to know the peo-
ple, and to establish some influence among them." ^ He
held a second service that night, and returned to Char-
lotte the following morning. This same procedure was
followed in his subsequent visits.

In December Cheshire went again to Long Creek, but
in consequence of bad weather, he did not return again
until the spring. Beginning in May, 1884, he held
monthly services in the Long Creek community. Ob-
serving the growing interest of the community in the

34 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

church, he decided to hold a series of services for them
from August 12 through the i6th. He secured the as-
sistance of Rev. Dr. George B. Wetmore and Rev. Mr.
Osborne. The services were held in Beach CHff School-
house and were so well attended that part of the congre-
gation was forced to sit out-of-doors. Cheshire and
his assistants took turns in preaching in the morning
and evening. In the afternoons they visited those fam-
ilies who had shown an interest in becoming mem-
bers of the church. In the course of the week they
baptized sixteen persons, for the most part children, and
at the end of the services fourteen adults signified their
desire to be confirmed. At the close of the week's preach-
ing Cheshire was presented with a petition signed by
eleven persons who asked that they be organized as
a mission under the name of St. Mark's Chapel. This
was indeed a successful conclusion to the week's work.

On October 25 Bishop Lyman visited Long Creek
and confirmed sixteen persons. Following the confirma-
tion he organized the congregation as a mission to be
known as St. Mark's. Cheshire continued his monthly
visits to the new mission until January, 1885, at which
time he turned this work over to Rev. Edwin A. Os-
borne, who had already taken charge of Cheshire's con-
gregation in Monroe. Upon assuming this work Mr.
Osborne moved from Henderson County to Charlotte.
During the remainder of Cheshire's rectorate at St.
Peter's, he and Mr. Osborne became intimate friends and
co-operated generously in each other's work.

Although Cheshire devoted most of his time and en-
ergy to St. Peter's parish and its missions, he did not
neglect his duty to the Diocese. He attended all of the
diocesan conventions and took an active and significant

Saint Peter^s Parish 3 5

part in their deliberations. Probably the most important
action taken by any convention during his ministry was
that relating to the division of the Diocese. The question
of dividing the church in North Carolina into two dio-
ceses had been discussed from time to time by the con-
ventions since the election in 1873 of Bishop Lyman as
assistant bishop. Bishop Atkinson had favored a division
at one time, but when the question was placed squarely
before the convention of 1877, he came out strongly
against it. The large number of clergy and laity who
favored division dropped the proposal for the time-being
out of deference to Bishop Atkinson, who, they felt,
did not have much longer to serve. Upon his death in
January, 188 1, the question was again brought forward.
At the convention of 1882, held in Calvary Church, Tar-
boro. Dr. M. M. Marshall, rector of Christ Church,
Raleigh, introduced resolutions declaring the sentiment
of the people on division and calling for a committee to
consider proposals for the erection of a new diocese. The
convention approved Dr. Marshall's resolutions, and the
Bishop appointed a special committee to report upon the
subject.

After some study of the proposal this committee sub-
mitted a majority report calling for a division of the
Diocese. Bishop Lyman, who during Bishop Atkinson's
life-time had advocated the formation of a new diocese,
now reversed his position. Upon hearing the report of
the special committee, the Bishop delivered "an impas-
sioned attack upon the report." ^ The opposition of the
Bishop led to a long and, at times, acrimonious discus-
sion. When the question was finally voted upon, the
committee's report was adopted by a large majority of
the clergy and laity. The convention appointed a com-

3 6 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

mittee of clergymen and laymen to confer with the
Bishop upon the details of the division, to obtain his
consent, and to report to the next diocesan convention.
Cheshire was made a member of this committee.

St. Peter's parish, Charlotte, was host to the diocesan
convention of 1883. The most pressing and important
business of this convention was the question of forming
a new diocese. On the second day the Committee on
Conference with the Bishop made its report. The com-
mittee stated that after a consultation with the Bishop
it found that he was opposed to a division of the Diocese
because he felt that one bishop in good health could do
the work for the entire state, and that the church in
North Carolina was not financially able to support two
bishops and two diocesan organizations. The Bishop told
the committee, however, that he would consent to the
erection of a new diocese provided a large majority of
clergy and laity desired it, the line of division to be
satisfactory to him, and the permanent funds to be di-
vided equally between the two dioceses. Following the
report the convention voted on the question: forty-two
clergymen voted for division, and eleven against; twenty-
nine parishes voted for, and ten against. Cheshire voted
for the creation of a new diocese, as he had done in the
convention the year before.

When the question of a territorial division came up for
discussion, Cheshire moved that the new diocese be com-
posed of the counties of Hertford, Bertie, Martin, Pitt,
Greene, Wayne, Sampson, Cumberland, and Robeson,
and all that part of the state located between those coun-
ties and the Atlantic coast. Cheshire later withdrew his
motion when the special Committee on a Line of Division
presented an amended report which embodied in sub-

Saint Peter^s Parish 3 7

stance his recommendation. The convention unanimously
adopted the amended report. Cheshire was in favor of
placing the counties of Edgecombe and Hahfax in the
eastern Diocese and retaining Cumberland in the old
Diocese. When he saw, however, that Bishop Lyman
would not give up Edgecombe and Halifax, he recom-
mended that Cumberland should be included in the new
division. This was the arrangement finally adopted.

After an agreement had been reached on the line of
demarcation, Cheshire offered the following resolutions:
(i) that the convention of 1883 ratify the work of the
convention of 1882 relative to a division of the Diocese;
(2) that the Bishop of the Diocese and the General Con-
vention of the church be requested to give their consent
to this procedure; and (3) that all the securities and
properties of the church in North Carolina be equally
divided between the two dioceses, as should be agreed
upon by a committee representing both. Cheshire's reso-
lutions were voted upon separately, and were all adopted.
Following their approval the convention received a letter
from Bishop Lyman announcing his consent to the for-
mation of a new diocese. Thus was decided an important,
and vexing, problem of the church in North Carolina.

The convention of 1883 was the first in which Chesh-
ire had taken a significant part, but from that time for-
ward his influence and counsel became increasingly im-
portant. He was made chairman of the committee on the
division of diocesan properties. His committee had a
difficult task in dividing the permanent funds of the
church to the satisfaction of both dioceses. The problem
caused a few very bitter discussions in several succeed-
ing conventions. Cheshire usually led the discussions,
often taking the side of the new diocese against Bishop

3 8 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

Lyman and a majority in the convention. More often
than not he won his point, since his opponents rarely
took the pains to make themselves fully acquainted with
the facts. Cheshire was sometimes accused of being dis-
courteous in his manner towards the Bishop when they
disagreed. It can be fairly said, however, that he was
never intentionally so. In a letter to the Bishop he re-
marked that he often spoke excitedly and impetuously
upon any subject about which he felt very strongly, and
that this characteristic was sometimes interpreted as dis-
courtesy.^ Cheshire had the highest respect for Bishop
Lyman and admired him both as a bishop and a man.
Nevertheless, it was almost inevitable that two such de-
cided and forthright characters as Lyman and Cheshire
should have pronounced disagreements.

One of Cheshire's most valuable contributions to the
diocesan conventions was his services on the Committee
on Canons. He was a member of this committee from
1884 through 1893, with the exception of 1887-88, serv-
ing as its chairman for several years. He made himself
thoroughly acquainted with the canons of the church,
and while serving on the committee, he did most of its
work. During these years debates on the canons occupied
much of the time of the annual conventions. Long after
becoming bishop, Cheshire remarked that he was happy
to observe that this was no longer true, and that "We
have come to be interested in more important business."
He did not mean to belittle the value of canonical law,
but rather to emphasize the importance of other work.

In 1887 Cheshire made a revision of the canons, ex-
pecting the convention of that year to call for a revisal.
He also carefully annotated the canons and the articles
of the diocesan constitution. The convention of 1887 did

Saint Feter^sTarish 39

call for a revision to be made and be presented to it the
next year. However, Cheshire was "surprised and dis-
appointed" when the Bishop did not reappoint him to
the Committee on Canons. Hearing of the work Cheshire
had already done on the canons, Dr. Kemp P. Battle sug-
gested that he should present to the next convention his
revision as a substitute for the one to be proposed by
the committee, Cheshire decided to follow this sugges-
tion. When the committee presented its report to the
convention of 1888, he rose to say that he had prepared
a revision of the canons the year before and had been
advised by some of his friends to offer it as a substitute.
Several requests were made from the floor that he should
explain his work. Following his explanation a motion
was made that his revisal be adopted in place of that of
the Committee on Canons. The motion was carried by
a large majority, and after making several minor changes,
the convention adopted Cheshire's revision. Its action
was a signal tribute to the high character of Cheshire's
work.

From time to time Cheshire served on other regular
and special committees. He was a member of the Execu-
tive Missionary Committee from 1885 to 1891, and a
member of the Board of Managers of the Thompson
Orphanage from 1886 through 1893. In all his activities
he manifested a zealous interest in the affairs of the Dio-
cese. In consequence of his work in the diocesan con-
ventions and his productive ministry in Charlotte, he
came to be recognized as one of the outstanding clergy-
men of the state.

Cheshire's first personal contact with the work of the
church outside of North Carolina was with the Univer-
sity of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee. Feeling that

40 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

the churchmen of his Diocese displayed an unwarrant-
able lack of interest in the welfare of the University of
the South, he resolved to bring to their attention the
needs and opportunities of the institution. In 1885 he
made an appeal for support of the school in the columns
of the Church Messenger. He wrote personal letters to
prominent churchmen, and made addresses on behalf of
the University in as many parishes as he could con-
veniently reach. His voluntary efforts met with some
success. Perceiving Cheshire's active interest in the
school. Dr. Jarvis Buxton, clerical trustee for the Uni-
versity from the Diocese of North Carolina, resigned this
position at the convention of 1885. Dr. Buxton then nom-
inated Cheshire to succeed him, and the convention
unanimously confirmed his nomination. From 1887 until
he was elected bishop he attended every meeting of the
trustees. During this period Cheshire formed many last-
ing friendships with the trustees and professors he met
at Sewanee. These associations gave him a better under-
standing of the church's work outside of his Diocese.

The diocesan convention further recoo^nized Chesh-
ire's ability by electing him one of the clerical deputies
to the Triennial General Convention of 1886. He was
re-elected a deputy to the succeeding conventions of
1889 and 1892. As far as the journals reveal, he did not
take an active part in any of these meetings. It was
characteristic of him to have little to say in a body of
which he was a new member until he had become thor-
oughly acquainted with its personnel and procedure. At
the General Convention of 1889 he was made a member
of the Missionary Council and was re-elected to the
Council in 1892. Attendance upon these conventions
further broadened his knowledge of the work of the

Saint Peter^s Parish 41

national church and brought him into contact with many
of its prominent figures.

In consequence of his energetic parochial work and
his active participation in diocesan affairs, Cheshire re-
ceived, during his rectorate at St. Peter's, several calls
to other parishes. In September, 1888, the vestry of Cal-
vary Church, Tarboro, asked him to become their rector
to succeed his father, who wished to retire. Cheshire
refused the call. It is to be supposed that he preferred
the larger opportunities offered in Charlotte, but his
personal papers do not reveal why he rejected the invi-
tation. Writing to him concerning his refusal, Bishop
Lyman stated that he was pleased to learn that Cheshire
was to remain in Charlotte, and that he recognized "how
great a calamity it would have been to the interest of
the Church, in your own, and in the adjacent counties,
had you decided to resign your present position. I am
sure, too, that your determination to remain will greatly
strengthen the hearts of those around you, and greatly
increase your powers of usefulness." ® This commenda-
tion of his work by Bishop Lyman, who was not in-
clined to give excessive praise, must have been encourag-
ing to Cheshire. Three years later he received a call from
the vestry of St. Paul's Church, Macon, Georgia. They
offered him a rectory and a salary of sixteen hundred
dollars a year, but he also declined this call.

The most complimentary consideration Cheshire re-
ceived, prior to 1893, was in the summer of 1 891. At that
time Rev. Henry Lucas, rector of St. Mark's Church,
Brunswick, Georgia, in behalf of himself and several
other clergymen, wrote Cheshire to ask if he had any
objection to his name being used as a nominee for bishop
of Georgia. Lucas stated that the diocesan convention

42 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

of Georgia was to meet on July i, in Macon, to elect a
bishop. Cheshire replied that if he were elected by the
convention he would be "on the whole unwilling to
accept." The Georgia convention met and elected a
bishop, but Cheshire's name was not placed in nomina-
tion because the delegates did not wish to risk a refusal.
Rev. A. W. Dodge, a member of the convention, wrote
Cheshire: "I think we could have elected you without
any great difficulty if you had been willing to serve us." ^
In none of his writings examined does Cheshire give an
explanation of his unwillingness to become bishop of
Georgia. His love for North Carolina and its people and
a sincere conviction that he should devote his life to
the work of the church in this state is probably the best
explanation of his decision.

During these years in which Cheshire was assuming a
greater share of diocesan work, his parochial and mis-
sionary duties in and outside of Charlotte were not neg-
lected. The only serious criticism of his services which
was brought to his attention by his parishioners was that
the missions in Iredell and Mecklenburg counties de-
manded too much of his time. Cheshire, however, main-
tained that in serving the rural missions he was at the
same time building up St. Peter's, since the missions
would eventually furnish many new members to the
town parish. In spite of this criticism, he continued his
missionary and institutional work. In 1885 and 1886 he
gave wholehearted assistance to Rev. Edwin A. Osborne
in establishing the Thompson Orphanage in Charlotte as
a diocesan institution. The last parochial enterprise of
St. Peter's Church in which he participated was the
founding of the Good Samaritan Hospital for Negroes.
The movement for the hospital was initiated by Mrs.

Saint Fetefs Parish 43

John Wilkes, with whom Cheshire co-operated in every
way. He devoted much time to raising the money for
the purchase of a lot. In 1888 he laid the cornerstone of
the hospital and three years later officiated at its formal
opening. The Good Samaritan was the first hospital for
Negroes to be established in North Carolina.

In the course of his pastorate in Charlotte Cheshire
was on the friendliest of terms with the ministers of the
other denominations, although he sometimes strongly
differed with them. He was a member of the local Minis-
terial Association, serving for a time as its vice-president.
The association often passed resolutions inviting popular
preachers to hold revivals in Charlotte. Cheshire, not in
sympathy with professional revivalists, customarily op-
posed this procedure.

When the association once invited the well-known
preacher, Sam Jones, to hold a series of services in Char-
lotte for ten days, all the ministers except Cheshire closed
their churches during the revival. At the time, he was
criticized rather severely for his lack of co-operation.
Some eighteen months later Jones announced he was re-
turning for a second revival, although he had received
no invitation. Hearing of his plans, the Baptist pastor,
at the next meeting of the Ministerial Association, pro-
posed a resolution that the ministers of the town should
not close their churches during Jones' visit, nor co-
operate with him. He declared that, while his church had
gained a good many members immediately following the
revivalist's services, most of them had by this time de-
serted him, and the whole effect of Jones' preaching had
been to lower and demoralize the religious life of his
congregation. The other ministers concurred in his opin-
ion. Cheshire, however, objected to the resolution on the

44 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

grounds that he would not oppose any man who, as far
as he knew, was "honestly trying to preach the Gospel
as he understood it." He opposed it also as a matter of
policy, since, in his opinion, nothing would please Jones
more than to be able to say that "a lot of little two-by-
four preachers got together, and voted to keep Sam
Jones out of Charlotte." ^ Cheshire's argument con-
vinced the other clergymen that he was right, and the
resolution was dropped. The incident well illustrates his
keen sense of fairness and good judgment.

Cheshire's domestic and social life in Charlotte was
happy and interesting. Although his salary was not
large, he was able to make his family reasonably com-
fortable. When he and Mrs. Cheshire left Chapel Hill,
they had two children, Elizabeth and Sarah. During their
twelve years in Charlotte four other children were bom
to them— Joseph Blount, Annie, Godfrey, and James
Webb. This was a large family to support on a clergy-
man's salary, but by good management they were able
to make their life pleasant. The Cheshires were hospitable
people and enjoyed entertaining their friends. The Dean
of the Convocation of Charlotte and the Diocesan Evan-
gelist, as well as many other visiting clergymen, usually
stayed with them when visiting St. Peter's parish.

Cheshire made many friends in Charlotte outside of
his congregation as well as among his parishioners. He
accomplished a great deal in building up a more friendly
attitude on the part of the other denominations towards
the Episcopal Church. The fearless and positive stand he
always took on questions involving the principles and
policies of his church, while antagonizing some people
for a time, in the end won him many admirers and the
respect of all.

Saint Peter^s Parish 45

When Cheshire resigned his rectorate of St. Peter's
in 1893 ^o become assistant bishop of the Diocese of
North CaroUna, he left in the parish a record difficult
for any future rector to equal. In the course of his
twelve years at St. Peter's he had increased its member-
ship from one hundred and thirty-seven to two hundred
and sixty-three. He organized and established St. Mar-
tin's parish, St. Michael and All Angels' mission for
Negroes, St. Mark's mission at Mecklenburg, and St.
Paul's mission at Aionroe. He sponsored the building of
St. Peter's and the Good Samaritan hospitals, and assisted
Rev. E. A. Osborne in establishing the Thompson Or-
phanage. These \^'ere significant accomplishments for a
rectorate of twelve years. But as almost everyone else,
Cheshire also experienced some failures. In his attempts
to establish missions at Rockingham, Mooresville, and
Mount Moume, he had not been successful. However,
balanced against his successes, these failures seem small.

CHAPTER IV

Election to the Episcopate

Theodore Benedict Lyman was elected assistant bishop
of North CaroHna in 1873, and upon the death of Bishop
Thomas Atkinson in 1881 he assumed the control of the
Diocese. In 1891 he celebrated in Christ Church, Ral-
eigh, the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination to the
priesthood. By this time the Bishop had begun to show
signs that the duties of his office were becoming too
arduous for his failing strength. It was not until two
years later, however, that he felt that he must ask for
assistance in his Episcopal duties. When the diocesan
convention met in Christ Church, Raleigh, on May 17,
1 893, Bishop Lyman brought to the attention of the body
his failing health and the necessity of conserving his
strength. He stated he would welcome any suggestions
on the subject the convention saw fit to make. The sub-
ject of assisting the Bishop was taken under considera-
tion immediately, and a committee was appointed to
study how best this might be accompHshed.

The following day this committee recommended, in
the form of several resolutions, that Bishop Lyman
should be relieved of a part of his official work by the

Election to the Episcopate 47

election of an assistant bishop; that when the convention
completed its present session it should adjourn to meet
again in Raleigh on June 27 to elect an assistant bishop;
and that the present convention should take steps to-
wards determining a salary for the new office. The res-
olutions were adopted in their entirety.

Before taking up the proceedings of the adjourned con-
vention, it is interesting to consider here some views
Cheshire once expressed on the Episcopate in North Car-
olina. In 1 89 1 a friend wrote him asking who he thought
would make a good successor to Bishop Lyman. In reply
to this query, Cheshire remarked that he did not approve
of anyone's expressing an arbitrary opinion as to the
choice of a bishop for this Diocese, but since that was
what his friend desired, he would offer some suggestions.
He declared that Dr. Francis J. Murdoch, Rector of St.
Luke's, Salisbury, was his first choice, and characterized
him as a learned, noble, and lovable man. His second and
third choices were the Rev. Robert S. Barrett, of Atlanta,
and the Rev. Mr. Winchester, of Nashville. Above every-
thing, said Cheshire, "We want a plain man— one who
can come down to the plain people of our country." He
did not suggest anyone above the age of fifty, since he
thought it was better to choose a clergyman "rather
under than above his prime." Speaking in general of the
election of bishops, Cheshire observed: "I really, and in
all seriousness, think that there is something providential
in the choice of a man to the office of Bishop. The best
men are so often those who were hardly thought of be-
forehand—sometimes hardly heard of." -^ To illustrate his
point, he cited the elections of Bishops Ravenscroft, of
North Carolina, Whipple, of Minnesota, and Jackson, of
Alabama. These observations are particularly interesting.

48 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

coming as they did only two years before the proposed
election of an assistant bishop.

When the adjourned convention convened in Christ
Church on June 27, Bishop Lyman gave his canonical
consent to the election of an assistant bishop. The con-
vention then provided that the new office should carry
with it an annual salary of twenty-five hundred dollars.

At the afternoon session the doors of the convention
were closed, and nominations for an assistant bishop
by the clergy were in order. The clergymen nominated
were Rev. Nathaniel H. Harding, Dr. Joseph Blount
Cheshire, Jr., Rev. T. M. N. George, Dr. Francis J. Mur-
doch, Dr. Matthias M. Marshall, and Rev. Robert S. Bar-
rett. It is significant that all of these candidates, with the
exception of R. S. Barrett, of Atlanta, were clergymen
resident in North Carolina. It is also of interest that Mur-
doch and Cheshire, who were to be the two most im-
portant candidates, nominated each other. In his nomina-
tion speech Dr. Murdoch said: "The good shepherd
knows his sheep. This is pre-eminently true of Dr. Chesh-
ire. He knows the people of North Carolina, their his-
tory, their relationships, better perhaps than any other
person living." ^

Under the rules of the convention the clergy elects a
bishop by a two-thirds vote of their number. Their
choice is then submitted to the laity, who either ratify or
reject it. In this convention twenty-nine votes was the
necessary majority for election.

On the first three ballots, although all candidates re-
ceived some votes, Cheshire led each time. But after the
third ballot, the contest was narrowed down to Cheshire,
Barrett, and Murdoch. Cheshire remained ahead through
the sixth ballot; Murdoch then took the lead, which he

Election to the Episcopate 49

held, with the exception of five ballots, through the
twenty-fourth. During this balloting, Barrett led all can-
didates twice and tied with Murdoch for the highest
number three times. After the twenty-fourth ballot
Cheshire asked to be excused from further attendance. He
explained that he had expected the convention to last
only one day and had accordingly promised to marry a
friend on the twenty-eighth.* He was excused, and with-
out further balloting the convention adjourned at eleven-
thirty in the evening.

The following morning balloting was resumed, with
Murdoch continuing to hold his lead. On the twenty-
ninth ballot the Rev. Arthur S. Lloyd, of Norfolk, Vir-
ginia, was nominated and remained in the contest until
the end. From the thirty-second through the thirty-
fifth ballots Cheshire did not receive a single vote; while
from the thirty-sixth through the thirty-eighth he re-
ceived only one vote on each. Before the thirty-seventh
was taken, Rev. W. S. Barrows moved that if no one was
elected within the next two ballots, the clergy should re-
tire from the convention for a conference. His motion
was carried. Since no election took place, the clergy re-
paired to Christ Church chapel for prayer and confer-
ence.

There was a small minority in the convention, number-
ing ten or twelve clergymen, who were opposed to elect-
ing anyone from the Diocese of North Carolina. This
minority held the balance between the stronger candi-
dates and thus prevented an election. All attempts to
compromise with the minority on some candidate other
than Murdoch or Cheshire failed. Thereupon, when the

* Dr. Stephen B. Weeks was the friend Cheshire referred to. The
wedding took place in Randolph County.

50 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

clergy met in the chapel, it was agreed that they should
arrive at a choice by the process of elimination. After sev-
eral votes were taken, the selection lay between Cheshire
and Murdoch. The supporters of both men then agreed
to vote in the convention for the one who received the
highest vote in this conference. When the votes were
counted, it was found that Cheshire led by a majority of
one. The clergy then re-entered the church and took the
thirty-ninth ballot, which resulted in twenty-nine votes
for Cheshire, seven for Lloyd, and five scattered. The laity
quickly confirmd the choice of the clergy by a vote of
twenty-four to seven; whereupon the Bishop declared
Rev. Joseph Blount Cheshire, Jr., elected assistant bishop
of the Diocese and appointed a committee to notify him
of his election.

After performing the promised marriage ceremony,
Cheshire went to High Point to spend the night. When
he arrived, he found several telegrams from friends con-
gratulating him upon his election. Describing his reaction
to the news, he said that he "could not comprehend what
they meant, and thought there must be some mistake. I
was more deeply agitated than I could have anticipated."
The following day he wrote his father: "The one thing
in the election at Raleigh which gives me unmixed satis-
faction is the knowledge that it would be a happiness to
you and to mother. In every other respect my feelings
are of so confused a kind that I hardly know myself what
to do or say. ... I feel that this election has its human
cause and origin in your life-long labor for the church,
and in the name and good will of our people which I
have derived from you and not made for myself." ^ This
sincere statement of his thoughts about his election was
characteristic of Cheshire. He felt profoundly the great

Election to the Episcopate 5 1

responsibility which had been placed upon him, and
wrote a friend that he could never have undertaken it
had he not felt that he had the "sympathy, co-operation,
and prayer" ^ of his people.

The month following his election Cheshire received
more than two hundred letters and telegrams of congrat-
ulation. They came from clergymen and laymen in and
outside of North Carolina, and a great many were from
persons who were not members of the Episcopal Church.
One of the most common sentiments found in these let-
ters was the pleasure and gratification expressed at the
election of a North Carolinian as assistant bishop. It is a
noteworthy fact that Cheshire was the first native clergy-
man of the state to be elected to the Episcopate of the
Diocese of North Carolina.

Dr. Francis J. Murdoch, as well as many of his adher-
ents, sent their sincere congratulations. In a circular letter
to his supporters, thanking them for their efforts in his
behalf. Dr. Murdoch said of Cheshire: "The election has
ended as I wished. Other men may tremble as to the out-
come. I have not one misgiving. Neither love for Dr.
Cheshire nor prejudice against any man can warp my
judgment in this matter. I say now (as I said when I nom-
inated him) that we have made no mistake." ^ This warm
praise from a man of Dr. Murdoch's high character and
ability must have been very encouraging to Cheshire.

An amusing and interesting tribute to Cheshire's elec-
tion as assistant bishop were some verses by Rev. John
E. C. Smedes. Dr. Smedes, a former clergyman of the
Diocese, had been one of Cheshire's examiners for dea-
con's orders and had presented him for ordination as
priest. His lines are as follows:

52 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

Congratulations to a Bishop-elect

News sweeter and fresher
I ask not, Joe Cheshire:
You are bishop assistant
Elect; though too distant
For love's fondest issue,
Alas! or I'd kiss you.
'Twas my joy to examine you
And find no mean sham in you;
For deep did they ram in you,
At Berkeley and Trinity,
A full charge of divinity.
'Twas my joy, mine eye feasted,
To see duly priested
The youth I presented.
And now I'm contented:
They will make you a bishop.
I send a meek wish up
To the Shepherd above.
That in wisdom and love
You may long feed His sheep,
While the Faith you still keep,
And then, crosier laid down,
May at last wear a crown.

Shortly after his election Cheshire received an invita-
tion from the vestry of Calvary Church, Tarboro, to
have his consecration service held there. He accepted the
invitation and selected October 1 5 as the date. It was in-
deed fitting that he should be consecrated in the church
which his father had served for a half century and in
which he himself had been brought up and ordained to
the diaconate.

On the day of Cheshire's consecration the little town

Election to the Episcopate 5 3

of Tarboro was taxed almost to its capacity to take care
of the out-of-town people who had come for the service.
About thirty clergymen from the dioceses of North Car-
olina and East Carolina were present. The service began
at eleven in the morning. The ecclesiastical procession,
headed by seven bishops and the bishop-elect, entered the
church singing the hymn "The Church's One Founda-
tion." Rt. Rev. T. U. Dudley, Bishop of Kentucky,
preached the sermon. Bishop Lyman was the consecrator,
assisted by Bishops Watson, of East Carolina, and Capers,
of South Carolina. Cheshire was presented by Bishop
Weed, of Florida, and Bishop Sessums, of Louisiana. The
venerable Bishop Quintard, of Tennessee, also took part
in the service. All of the bishops joined in the laying on
of hands. During the service the choir sang the anthem
"How Beautiful upon the Mountains are the Feet of
Them that Publish Good Tidings," composed by Rev.
Dr. M. A. Curtis. It is interesting to note that this anthem
was sung at the ordination of Dr. J. B. Cheshire, Sr., in
1840 and at the ordination of Rev. J. B. Cheshire, Jr., in
1880. The service closed with the singing of the reces-
sional "Holy, Holy, Holy." It was a beautiful and im-
pressive ceremony, but its beauty was marred for Chesh-
ire by the absence of his father, who was not well enough
to attend.

Bishop Cheshire's first episcopal act was to hold an eve-
ning service in Tarboro, the night of his consecration, at
St. Luke's Chapel for Negroes. He did not lose any time
in assuming the duties of his new office. While in Tar-
boro he made several visitations in Edgecombe and Hali-
fax counties. On October 2 3 he and his family returned
to Charlotte, but he did not tarry long. A few days later
he set out for the mountains of North Carolina, where

54 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

he spent a month visiting the scattered churches and mis-
sions in that section. Returning from the mountains, he
continued his visitations until he was suddenly called to
Raleigh on December 1 3 by the death of Bishop Lyman,
who had been in greatly enfeebled health for the past
few months.

The death of Bishop Lyman placed the Assistant Bishop
in full charge of the Diocese of North Carolina. The few
weeks of work Bishop Cheshire had had under the direc-
tion and advice of the senior bishop stood him in good
stead now that he had the sole responsibility for episcopal
guidance of the Diocese.

CHAPTER V

First Years in the Episcopacy

When Bishop Cheshire assumed the episcopal oversight
of the Diocese of North CaroHna, he felt little confidence
in his ability to fulfill the duties of the office. He did feel
that by sincere and diligent application he could accom-
plish much for the welfare of the church. When elected
assistant bishop he was, in his own words, "constrained to
accept the call, not from any sense of fitness in myself,
but simply because such a call seems to me to carry with
it an imperative obligation to accept, unless the hand of
God should plainly point in another direction: a dispen-
sation was laid upon me." ^ Notwithstanding his expressed
views. Bishop Cheshire was, in the opinion of most
churchmen, better fitted for his office by ability, tempera-
ment, and training than any other man in North Carolina.
Bishop Cheshire met his first diocesan convention in
May, 1 894, at St. Paul's Church, Winston. He opened his
annual address by saying: "I cannot bring into any order
or method in my own mind, much less can I put it into
words, the feehngs which this occasion calls up. To no
one can it seem stranger than it does to myself that I
should occupy this place, and thus address you from the

$6 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

chair of Ravenscroft, of Atkinson, and of him so lately
taken from us." He made no recommendations for im-
portant changes in the policy or work of the church,
since he wished to become more thoroughly acquainted
with the problems and needs of the Diocese before doing
so. The Bishop urged upon the clergy then, as he was
to do many times in the future, the necessity of keeping
their parochial records in proper order, and observed that
no businessman would employ a clerk for a week if he
kept his books as many of the parish registers were kept.
In concluding his address, the Bishop touched on three
subjects which were to be collectively the theme of his
episcopate: namely, the importance of regarding the Dio-
cese rather than the parish as the unit of the church; the
necessity of supporting all diocesan institutions; and the
great need for continuing and expanding the missionary
work of the Diocese, Time and time again he drove home
the spirit and essence of these subjects, until the clergy
and laity alike caught some of the fire of his enthusiasm
and translated his ideas into living reality.

One of the first diocesan projects Bishop Cheshire un-
dertook was the revival of the old mission of Valle Crucis,
established by Bishop Ives about fifty years before. At
the same time he planned to revive the mission work
along the Watauga River. For this difficult work the
Bishop had one man in mind who he thought was emi-
nently qualified— Rev, Milnor Jones. His first meeting
with Jones had been at the convention of 1883. Shortly
afterwards, Bishop Lyman had asked Cheshire if he would
carry to Jones a sum of money which had been raised
to aid him in erecting a church at Tryon. The Bishop had
added that he hoped Cheshire would spend a few days
with Jones to observe his work. Cheshire complied with

First Years in the Episcopacy 5 7

the Bishop's request, and spent a few unforgettable days
with Jones, driving with him over the hills and valleys of
Polk County to visit his scattered missions. At the time,
he had been greatly impressed with Jones' influence with
the mountain people. When he began to plan the revival
of Valle Crucis, he remembered his experience with the
picturesque mountain missionary.

Milnor Jones, however, was in Oregon when the
Bishop was ready to commence his mountain work. In
January, 1894, Cheshire wrote asking him to return to
North Carolina. In replying to Bishop Cheshire, Jones
wrote this characteristically laconic letter: "Where do
you want me to go? What do you wish me to do? And
what salary will you give? Not that the amount of the
salary makes any difference; I only wish to know just
what I have to go on." The Bishop answered as concisely:
"I want you to go to Valle Crucis, on the Watauga River.
I want you to revive the old Valle Crucis Mission, as
your special work; and I give you for your field of opera-
tions Watauga, Mitchell, and Ashe Counties, to do what
you can in them. I will give you six hundred dollars a
year, payable monthly." ^

Milnor Jones was a rough, plain-spoken individual
with a remarkable faculty for understanding and winning
the confidence of the simple mountain folk. He had a
deeply religious nature, and a complete fearlessness in
preaching the Gospel as he understood it. Bishop Cheshire
found him an unusually effective man in laying the foun-
dations of missionary work, but from that point he
seemed to lack the power to build further.

Jones entered with enthusiasm upon his work in the
mountains of North Carolina. When the Bishop began
his visitations to the western counties in June, 1895, he

58 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

found that Jones had made a promising beginning. Bishop
Cheshire spent several weeks with him, visiting one mis-
sion station after another in the counties of Mitchell, Wa-
tauga, and Ashe. They preached, baptized, and confirmed
in the most out-of-the-way places and under the most
varied conditions. When they first visited Bakersville
they held services in the courthouse, but upon their re-
turn for a second service some time later, they were re-
fused the use of the building on the grounds that the
courthouse was not safe for large crowds. The local
newspaper, however, gave as the reason for the refusal
the fact that the Methodists and Baptists held that "the
EpiscopaHans had been preaching uncomfortable doc-
trine." The Bishop and Jones were not to be daunted;
they held their service on the street in front of the court-
house. A large congregation gathered for the service.
When the Bishop began preaching he did not think his
voice would reach the assemblage, but after a few min-
utes he felt as if he could make himself heard "a mile
away." He afterwards declared that "I never spoke with
more ease, freedom, and enjoyment, or with a greater
sense of the high privilege of being a servant and ambas-
sador of my Lord." ^

Another interesting episode in Bishop Cheshire's mis-
sion work in the mountains took place at Beaver Creek,
Ashe County, in the summer of 1896. Here the Bishop
and Jones were maintaining a mission school with two
teachers in a building which had been leased for two
years. When the Bishop went to the schoolhouse to hold
a service, he was met by a mob of more than fifty men
who "forcibly prevented" him from entering. The mob
declared that the reason they were preventing him from
holding his service was that they did not like "Mr. Jones's

First Years in the Episcopacy 59

doctrine" and they understood that he, the Bishop,
taught the same doctrine. In reporting the incident to the
convention of the Jurisdiction of Asheville, the Bishop
described it as "an experience which I certainly had never
thought a possibiHty in my native state of North Caro-
lina." "^

In reviving the old mission at Valle Crucis Bishop
Cheshire did not intend to follow the plan of Bishop Ives,
which had been to establish a boys' school and a train-
ing school for the clergy. His primary motive was to
evangelize the people of the mountain counties. He
wanted to make Valle Crucis "an associate mission from
which preachers and teachers should go out and keep up
the work of evangelizing, instructing, and educating
wherever an opening might be found or made." ^

Milnor Jones, carrying letters of introduction from his
Bishop, in the fall of 1895 visited the northern states to
raise funds for his mountain work. He was successful in
his efforts and, with the money thus raised, mission schools
were established at Valle Crucis and at Beaver Creek. In
the course of 1896 and 1897 a mission home, consisting
of an eight-room house, was erected at Valle Crucis at a
cost of twelve hundred dollars. It was built to accommo-
date a missionary, a teacher, and several pupils attending
the mission school. Shortly after this constructive begin-
ning Milnor Jones gave up the work at Valle Crucis. He
confined his efforts to the small mission stations scattered
over Mitchell, Watauga, and Ashe counties. The Bishop
placed Rev. Samuel F. Adams in charge of Valle Crucis,
and under his guidance and that of his successors the
work progressed steadily.

Milnor Jones left North Carolina towards the end of
1897. He, with the assistance and encouragement of

6o Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

Bishop Cheshire, had laid the foundations of a missionary
work which was to be a credit to the church. Referring
once to the character of Jones' work, the Bishop re-
marked: "If I had a wild mountain country full of moon-
shiners, I think I would like to have him, but for anything
more civilized he is too savage." ^ With all of Jones'
crudeness and faults. Bishop Cheshire believed him to be
"really a more Godly man than many an one whose life
is perfectly conventional and blameless." The Bishop
often remarked that the visits he made to Milnor Jones
in the mountains of North Carolina were among the most
interesting experiences of his career.

Coinciding with Bishop Cheshire's efforts to expand
and revive the missionary work of the church in the
mountains, a movement was initiated to create a mission-
ary district from the western counties of the Diocese of
North Carolina. At the diocesan convention of 1894 a
committee was appointed to study the advisability of re-
questing the General Convention to organize the western
counties of the state into a missionary jurisdiction. It was
felt by many that the present Diocese was too large to be
adequately administered and supervised by one bishop. In
his address to the convention of 1895 Bishop Cheshire
substantiated this view when he reported that during the
past year he had been able to devote only nine weeks to
the western section of the state, which embraced nearly
thirty counties.

The Bishop was "in sentiment" strongly opposed to a
division of his Diocese, for he disliked seeing the church
in North Carolina divided further. Also, he had become
deeply interested in his mountain missions and was loath
to relinquish them. He realized, however, the impossibil-
ity of properly serving such a large territory. Moreover,

First Years in the Episcopacy 6 1

he was determined not to make the mistake which he
thought Bishop Atkinson, in 1877, and Bishop Lyman,
in 1882, had made when they opposed the formation of
a new diocese. In his opinion, a bishop "makes a mistake,
when he opposes the well-settled convictions of his
clergy and people upon a matter affecting the develop-
ment of the Diocese." ^

When the diocesan convention met in May, 1895, the
Committee on the Proposed Missionary Jurisdiction rec-
ommended that the General Convention be requested to
set apart the western section of the Diocese of North
Carolina as a missionary jurisdiction. It was further rec-
ommended that the line of division should be the eastern
boundaries of the counties of Alleghany, Wilkes, Alex-
ander, Catawba, Lincoln and Gaston. Bishop Cheshire
had suggested to the committee this territorial division.
Although it meant a great loss of strength to his own Dio-
cese, the Bishop believed that the missionary jurisdiction
should be made large enough to be of importance, and
that it should be created with the view of its becoming
a diocese at some future date. The convention adopted
the committee's recommendations, and instructed its dep-
uties to present them to the General Convention.

When this body met in the fall of 1895, Bishop Chesh-
ire presented in the House of Bishops the memorial of
the Diocese of North Carolina requesting the erection of
a missionary jurisdiction. The memorial was referred to
the Committee on Domestic Missions. A few days later
the Bishop of Florida, chairman of the committee, re-
ported the memorial unfavorably, stating that his com-
mittee did not believe the reasons set forth were sufficient
to justify an affirmative action. He further reported that
the legal and constitutional requirements had not been

6i Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

properly provided for. Bishop Cheshire then introduced
a resolution calling for the erection of a missionary dis-
trict and providing that it should be under the limited
jurisdiction of the Bishop and Convention of the Diocese
of North Carolina until such constitutional amendments
could be adopted to remove the objections advanced by
the Bishop of Florida. The House of Bishops adopted the
resolution with little discussion, and two days later it was
approved by the House of Deputies. Following this ac-
tion Bishop Cheshire moved that the House of Bishops
should proceed to the election of a missionary bishop for
the newly created district. His motion met with opposi-
tion and was postponed to a future meeting of the House
of Bishops. The district, which was to be known as the
Jurisdiction of Asheville, was temporarily placed under
the episcopal care of Bishop Cheshire.

Only a few weeks after the close of the General Con-
vention, Bishop Cheshire, on November 12, 1895, met the
first convention of the Missionary Jurisdiction of Ashe-
ville. He outlined to the clergy and laity what would be
expected of them as a missionary jurisdiction, and gave
much helpful advice on setting up the machinery for
carrying on their work. The Bishop called to their atten-
tion the almost incalculable opportunities for extending
the influence of the church in the mountain counties. The
next year he greatly expanded this idea in a charge to
the clergy of the Jurisdiction. The Bishop pointed out
that nine-tenths of the work in the Jurisdiction of Ashe-
ville was to evangelize people who were almost wholly
ignorant of the church. Such material aids as rec-
tories, schoolhouses, and even churches, while undoubt-
edly helpful, were not necessary adjuncts to the primary
object of the church: "to catch men." He urged the

First Years in the Episcopacy 63

clergy to know the people, to preach to them in words
they could understand, and to make religion an integral
part of their lives.

After completing his first year in charge of the Juris-
diction of Asheville, and after a careful study of the man-
ifold problems peculiar to it, Bishop Cheshire was con-
vinced that the erection of the missionary jurisdiction
was "an act of wise and prudent statesmanship." He
thought that a missionary who had the oversight of three
or four counties sorely needed regular visitations from
the bishop, and in his opinion the work could be more
effectively carried on if the bishop were able to remain
a week or more with each missionary. He pressed these
points upon the members of the House of Bishops in
strongly advocating the election of a bishop for the Juris-
diction. Finally, in the fall of 1898, the House of Bishops
elected the Rev. Junius Moore Horner, a native North
Carolinian, as missionary bishop of the Jurisdiction of
Asheville. He was consecrated on December 28, 1898,
in Trinity Church, Asheville, with Bishop Cheshire as
the consecrator. After this service Bishop Cheshire for-
mally turned over to Bishop Homer the full administra-
tion of the Jurisdiction.

Turning now to a wholly different phase of Bishop
Cheshire's work, we take up one of the most important
achievements of his long episcopate, the establishment of
St. Mary's School for girls as a church institution. This
school had been founded in Raleigh by Dr. Aldert Smedes
in 1842, and had been nurtured and maintained, through
good and hard times, by its founder and his son and suc-
cessor, Dr. Bennett Smedes. St. Mary's was not a church
school, but its two rectors had been Episcopal clergymen,
and thus the institution had been under the exclusive in-

64 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

fluence of the Episcopal Church. By 1896 Dr. Bennett
Smedes was finding it very difficult to compete with pub-
licly supported and privately endowed schools. At this
time he made it known that he could no longer continue
St. iMary's as a private school.

The Alumnae Association of St. Mary's at once took
action to preserve the school for the church. It sent a
memorial to the diocesan convention of 1896, in which
it appealed to the Episcopal Church in North Carolina
"either to endow the School, or to erect for it suitable
buildings in Raleigh or elsewhere, and thus relieve it of
one great drain, its heavy rent." The appeal met with
sympathetic attention from Bishop Cheshire. Only the
year before, he had remarked to the convention: "I have
been, from earliest childhood, brought up to look upon
St. Mary's School, at Raleigh, as the most valuable of all
our church institutions or agencies in North Carolina. . . .
I cannot too highly recommend this school to the confi-
dence of all the people of North Carolina."

After careful consideration of the St. Mary's Alumnae
memorial, the convention adopted a resolution providing
for the appointment of a committee of six, to include the
Bishop, with the authority to buy suitable buildings for
a girls' school or to purchase land and erect new build-
ings. In direct reply to the memorialists, Bishop Cheshire
offered a resolution, which the convention adopted, as-
suring the alumnae that the church in North Carolina
"will do all in its power to place St. Mary's School upon
a permanent foundation as an institution under the
charge and patronage of the Church throughout the en-
tire State. . . ."

At the convention of 1897 the special committee on a
diocesan school for girls reported that it had procured a

First Years in the Episcopacy 6^

charter of incorporation for the Board of Trustees of St.
Mary's School from the state legislature, and had turned
over to this corporation all further negotiations. The
newly constituted Board of Trustees, of which Bishop
Cheshire was chairman, then made its report. It recom-
mended that not less than one hundred thousand dollars
be raised for the purchase of a location, the erection of
buildings, and an endowment of St. Mary's School. The
Board announced that it had contracted to purchase for
fifty thousand dollars a site known as the St. Mary's
Tract. The convention adopted the report as it was made.

During the past year, at the request of the Trustees,
Bishop Cheshire had spent a month visiting many towns
throughout the state in an attempt to interest the people
of the church in the needs and potentialities of St. Mary's
School. His efforts met with gratifying success. He ap-
pealed to the women of the state, and especially to the
alumnae of St. Mary's, to raise fifty thousand dollars for
an endowment which should be known as "The St.
Mary's Alumnae Association Fund." To stimulate the in-
terest and increase the activity of the women in this plan.
Bishop Cheshire organized the "Order of the Patrons and
Daughters of St. Mary's." He proposed to find fifty
women who would give five hundred dollars each to-
wards the endowment, and two hundred and fifty others
who would each contribute one hundred dollars. He re-
ported to the convention of 1897 that he had raised a sub-
stantial amount in this way.

Thus, St. Mar}^'s was established as the official school
of the Episcopal Church in North Carolina. The Diocese
of East Carolina and the Jurisdiction of Asheville had
agreed to contribute to the maintenance of the school
and were given representation on the Board of Trustees.

66 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

Dr. Bennett Smedes was retained as rector of the school
and continued in this position until his death in 1 899. The
first year the school was under the control of the church
the number of boarding students increased fifty per cent.
To a great extent the enlarged enrollment was due to the
renewed interest which Bishop Cheshire had aroused.

In the course of his negotiations to establish St. Mary's
as a church school, the Bishop discovered that the church-
men of South Carolina had been for some time loyal and
generous supporters of the school. After reflection upon
this fact, he determined to ask the Diocese of South Caro-
lina to co-operate in the maintenance and management
of St. Mary's. When he discussed the subject with the
Board of Trustees, it was decided to appoint a committee
of the Board to meet at Saluda to confer with representa-
tives from South Carolina. The conference was held in
August, 1898. After a friendly and constructive discus-
sion, the conference resolved that St. Mary's School
should be placed under the "control and patronage of
all the Carolina Dioceses."

Bishop Cheshire met with the convention of the Dio-
cese of South Carolina in the spring of 1899 and pre-
sented the advantages and possibilities of St. Mary's as a
church institution. The resolution of the Saluda confer-
ence was reported to the convention and was unanimously
adopted. Bishop Capers, two clergymen, and two laymen
were appointed to the Board of Trustees to represent
South Carolina. After patient and diligent work Bishop
Cheshire was able to unite the church of the two states
in the support of one church school for girls. In a com-
paratively short time it was to become the largest Episco-
pal school for girls in the United States.

First Years in the Episcopacy 67

In the winter of 1897 Bishop Cheshire suffered an ir-
reparable loss in the death of his wife. Their married life
of twenty-two years had been remarkably happy. Mrs.
Cheshire had been a great help to him in his work as
deacon and priest and later as bishop of the Diocese. She
gave him encouragement, devotion, and the benefit of her
sound common sense. The Bishop often spoke of how
much she meant to him in his work, and of their happy
life together.

It was a fortunate coincidence that the Lambeth Con-
ference came in the summer of 1897, for it enabled him
to have a complete change, removing him from those as-
sociations which reminded him so strongly of his wife.
The Lambeth Conference, which convenes approximately
every ten years at Lambeth Palace, London, is composed
of all the bishops of the Episcopal Church throughout the
world. Bishop Cheshire decided to attend, believing it
would be broadening and an exceedingly worth-while
experience. The object of the Conference was to discuss
religious questions of world-wide interest. In the course
of its sessions it would be divided into groups which
would discuss problems relating to particular countries.

The Bishop sailed from New York on June 2, arriving
in England six days later. Since the Conference did not
commence until July i, he spent the intervening time
sight-seeing. This was the summer of Queen Victoria's
Diamond Jubilee, giving an additional interest to his trip.
He attended the Jubilee service at St. Paul's, and re-
marked that the Bishop of London preached "a good
sermon" for the occasion.

The Lambeth Conference was formally opened at
Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
who was to preside over its sessions. There were present

68 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

for the Conference one hundred and ninety-four bishops
from all parts of the world. Forty-nine of these represented
the Episcopal Church of the United States. The sessions
of the Conference continued through July 31. Bishop
Cheshire was a member of the committee on church
unity, and, as far as his journal reveals, this was the only
committee on which he served. Reporting upon the Lam-
beth Conference to his diocesan convention the following
year. Bishop Cheshire said: "The first message which we
bring home from the Lambeth Conference of 1897 is
that God in His Providence is opening the world to us;
and to prepare us for the work we are to do. He is draw-
ing all parts of the world-possessing Anglo-Saxon race
into a closer union of common interest and sympathies,
and of mutual confidence." He declared that the Ameri-
can bishops, while receiving much benefit from the Con-
ference, had also contributed constructively to its work.
Shortly after the Conference closed. Bishop Cheshire
visited the Archbishop of York for a few days. Upon
leaving York he spent about a month traveling in Eng-
land, Scotland, the Orkneys, and Ireland. In early Sep-
tember he left England for the Continent, where he
visited in succession Antwerp, Brussels, and Cologne. Of
his reactions to the cathedrals of these three cities, the
Bishop observed that they "do not seem to me to be really
so full of interest and beauty as even the inferior English
cathedrals. They do not so abound with evidences and
symbols of their connection with the life and history of
the country and people, and so in spite of all their orna-
mentation they have a barren look." ^ The Bishop did
some further sight-seeing in Germany, Switzerland, and
France. While in Switzerland he saw the famous Lion of
Lucerne, which he thought possessed "a dignity, noble-

First Years in the Episcopacy 69

ness, and beauty about it which exceeds anything of the
kind I have ever seen before." Leaving from Southamp-
ton, he arrived in New York on September 24, feeUng
much refreshed and ready to return to the work of his
Diocese.

Two years after his visit to England Bishop Cheshire
married Miss Elizabeth Lansdale Mitchell, of Beltsville,
Maryland. She was the daughter of Rev. Walter A.
Mitchell, an Episcopal clergyman. The marriage proved
to be happy and successful in every way. Mrs. Cheshire
was a splendid mother to the Bishop's children, and they
all became devoted to her.

When a friend heard that Bishop Cheshire was to be
married, he remarked to the Bishop that with his large
family he needed a wife. With his characteristic honesty
the Bishop replied: "I don't need any such thing. My
daughters take the best care of me and want me to have
the best of everything. I don't need a wife; I am marry-
ing again just because I want to." ^

From the General Convention of 1895 to that of 193 1,
Bishop Cheshire attended every triennial meeting of this
body. In the first three or four conventions, he did not
take an active part in the discussions of the House of
Bishops. For that matter, he never participated as prom-
inently in its deliberations as some of the other bishops.
At the 1895 convention he was appointed to the commit-
tees on the Admission of New Dioceses and on the Con-
secration of Bishops, and at the next triennial meeting he
was made a member of the Joint Commission on the Re-
vision of the Constitution and Canons. This last appoint-
ment pleased him, since it was the kind of work for
which he was well prepared. His legal training influenced
his partiality for this type of work. In 1904 he was ap-

70 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

pointed to the Committee on Canons, on which he served
for almost every convention until his death. As a mem-
ber of this committee he made his most important contri-
bution to the work of the General Convention. It will
be recalled that it was in this capacity that he had done
his best work in the diocesan conventions. From time to
time he was made a member of other regular and special
committees.

When Bishop Cheshire assumed the office of bishop of
the Diocese of North Carolina, he felt it his duty to exer-
cise the full authority of that office. In deciding upon this
course of action he did not intend to be arbitrary or des-
potic in administering the Diocese, although at times
some clergymen and laymen seemed to think so. But
when they became better acquainted with him and his
methods, they admired and respected him the more. The
Bishop had a forthright, and sometimes decidedly blunt,
manner of speaking, which, to those who did not know
him so well, seemed arbitrary or overbearing. He had dis-
agreements with his clergymen, but they felt that they
could always count upon receiving a fair hearing from
him. When the Bishop realized he was in error upon any
point, no one was quicker than he to admit it.

In 1895 Bishop Cheshire, for the first time in the his-
tory of the Diocese, issued to the clergy "Visitation Arti-
cles," as called for by a canon of the church. After em-
ploying them for a year he found they were useful and
"calculated to make the visitations of the Bishop of more
real value to the Clergy and to the people. The Bishop has
for so long a time ceased to exert any real influence or
control in the ordinary life and work of the parish in all
parts of the United States, that the assertion of that au-
thority, which in theory our Bishops are supposed to pos-

First Years in the Episcopacy 7 1

sess, is perhaps impracticable at present." ^^ He thought
that if the bishop would make himself acquainted with
the affairs of each congregation during his visitation, it
would strengthen the influence of the episcopate, and
would go far towards the "breaking up of our present
congregational parochialism." One of Bishop Cheshire's
customs which endeared him to his people was that of
calling upon the members of a congregation during his
visitation. Of this practice he once remarked: "People
like the attention and it makes Bishop and people feel
nearer together, but in most cases they do not want very
long visits." ^^ The Bishop's keen understanding of hu-
man nature was one of his most notable qualities.

Bishop Cheshire thought that southern bishops had a
great deal to be thankful for, particularly that in the
South "as much as anywhere in the world, I believe, the
Bishop may still be in some real and personal sense, the
pastor of his flock, can live in familiar and confidential
relations with his people." He deplored the tendency,
which seemed to be growing in some quarters, of making
the bishop simply an administrator of ecclesiastical affairs.

While Bishop Cheshire was in no sense a ritualist, or
what is commonly known as high church, he believed in
a strict adherence to the rubrics of the Book of Common
Prayer. He had a great reverence and admiration for the
services of the Prayer Book, and consequently little pa-
tience with those clergymen who attempted to alter their
order or length. He was not a dogmatic formalist, but
was thoroughly convinced that the canons and rubrics of
the church should be obeyed and not disregarded by
those individuals who might take exception to them.

In a charge to his clergy on the subject of Public Wor-
ship, Bishop Cheshire pointed out that the church was

72 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

established and is sustained by Christ for two purposes:
"first, to be the depository and source of spiritual Truth
and Power; and second, to bring men into living contact
with that spiritual Truth and Power." The Prayer Book
is a means by which the church can diffuse and extend
the truth, and it is also a means of developing and con-
serving the influence of the church. In his opinion, ex-
temporary methods of worship had a tendency to weaken
and finally destroy the concept of common public wor-
ship. The public worship of the Episcopal Church was
not left to individual whim or judgment, but was def-
initely prescribed. He maintained that the participation
of the congregation in the services and sacraments of the
church is its principal means of cultivating its oneness
with Christ. The Bishop enjoined the clergy to follow
the services as they were set down in the Prayer Book,
and warned them that they would gain nothing, but
rather would injure the church by seeking to make their
services more attractive through short cuts or innova-
tions.

In a Pastoral Letter to the clergy and laity of the Dio-
cese, Bishop Cheshire further developed the subject of
public worship and the use of the Prayer Book. He gave
much sound instruction as to how the minister and con-
gregation should conduct themselves in any of the
church's services, particularly emphasizing the impor-
tance of correct kneeling and audible and intelligent re-
sponses. He stressed the value which the clergy and laity
would receive from a regular observance of the feast
days and fast days. The Bishop expressed his strong dis-
approval of decorating the church for any purpose other
than "for God's honor." The sacred character of the
church should not be sacrificed to gratify the vanity of

First Years in the Episcopacy 7 3

men and women. He referred particularly to the extrava-
gant excesses often indulged in when decorating the
church for weddings.

This Pastoral Letter is just as applicable to churchmen
today and is worthy of as much consideration from them
as when it was first issued in 1 9 1 2 . It would be of great
value to them to hear it read annually in the churches
of the Diocese.

Bishop Cheshire never went to extremes in anything.
In spiritual as well as in material matters he believed in
preserving a sense of proportion. He advised his clergy
to use practical judgment in the observance of Lenten
services. Very few clergymen were capable of preaching
good sermons for forty or more consecutive days and,
in his opinion, few congregations desired them. Even
in those cases where a preaching Lent had been success-
ful, he thought that a change would have a salutary effect
upon the people.

On the subject of church music he tried to preserve
an equilibrium of opinion. The Bishop was very fond of
good ecclesiastical music and thoroughly enjoyed singing
himself. While his standards of church music were high,
he did not at all approve of too elaborate arrangements of
the old chants and hymns. He wanted them sung prop-
erly, but also in such a way that at least a part of the
congregation would be able to join in with the choir. On
several occasions he was known to have stopped the
organist and choir in the middle of a hymn or chant be-
cause the tune was either too difficult or too decorative.

Bishop Cheshire's interest in domestic missionary
work was by no means limited to the zeal which he had
displayed when working in the mountains of North Car-
ohna. In his report on missionary work to the convention

74 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

of 1898, he made a strong appeal for domestic missions
and missionaries. He called to the attention of the con-
vention the fact that the growth of the church in the
Diocese was chiefly through its missions. Since there were
no large city parishes, its strength lay in the towns, vil-
lages, and country districts. "In these," said he, "has been
our growth, and in these is our hope and strength for the
future." The missionary clergymen had presented for
confirmation during the past year more than half of the
total number of persons confirmed. He concluded these
remarks with an urgent plea for adequate salaries for the
missionaries.

Up to 1 90 1 the administration of the diocesan missions
was in the hands of the Bishop and the Executive Mis-
sionary Committee of the convention. Bishop Cheshire
reported that under this system the missionary work
usually showed an annual deficit of from four to five
hundred dollars, even after he had used funds for it which
should have been reserved for special work. With the
advice and approbation of Bishop Cheshire, the conven-
tion of 1 90 1 divided the missionary work of the Diocese
into three divisions— the Convocation of Raleigh, the
Convocation of Charlotte, and the Convocation for Col-
ored Work. These convocations, each with an archdeacon
at its head, were given full control of diocesan missions.
The archdeacons, under the supervision of the bishop,
had the direction and control of the missionaries in their
respective convocations. Under this new organization
the diocesan missions progressed steadily, and the treas-
urers of the convocations seldom reported a deficit. Some
fifteen years after this plan was inaugurated. Bishop
Cheshire declared that the missionary work had been

First Years in the Episcopacy 7 5

"prosecuted with greater vigor and system than ever be-
fore in my knowledge of the Diocese."

At the close of the first decade of Bishop Cheshire's
episcopate, a large number of clergy and laity gathered
at Good Shepherd Church, Raleigh, on the evening of
October 14, 1903, to celebrate the occasion. At this serv-
ice the Bishop made an address in which he reviewed his
work for the period. During the decade he had held more
than 4,000 services, preached 1,400 sermons, delivered
500 addresses, confirmed 4,400 persons, consecrated 27
churches and chapels, and ordained 27 clergymen. To
him the greatest achievement of the past ten years was
the acquisition of St. Mary's and its establishment as the
church school of all the Carolina dioceses. In 1897 his
Diocese had assumed in behalf of St. Mary's an obliga-
tion of fifty thousand dollars to be paid in twenty years.
At the end of six years only eighteen thousand dollars of
the debt remained, and in addition ten thousand dollars
had been spent upon permanent equipment for the school.
Since the Diocese took over St. Mary's, the number of
boarding pupils had increased threefold. In conclusion,
he declared that they should not look too much to the
past but should press on to the future with the work of
the church.

Representatives of the clergy and laity congratulated
the Bishop upon his tenth anniversary, pledging their
loyalty and devotion to him, and expressing the appre-
ciation of their respective bodies for his splendid work.
Mr. Richard H. Battle, in behalf of a number of the
Bishop's friends, presented him with a beautiful pectoral
cross and a silk cassock. In acknowledging the kind ex-
pressions and gifts, the Bishop remarked: "I have one

76 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

single desire, it is to serve God in this Diocese. It was
the interest that I took in the work here that brought me
into the ministry, and I have no desire to labor elsewhere.
I love my people, and I appreciate the kindness, sym-
pathy and aid that has been given me. . . ." ^^

The following day the colored clergy and laity hon-
ored the Bishop in a service at St. Ambrose Church, Ral-
eigh. Resolutions expressing the confidence and affection
of the colored churchmen were presented to Bishop
Cheshire by Rev. Henry B. Delany. Rev. Primus P.
Alston, on behalf of the colored clergy, gave the Bishop
a handsome stole, accompanying it with an address ex-
pressing the gratitude of the colored people for his work
among them. Afterwards, the Bishop observed that noth-
ing during the past ten years had been more gratifying
to him than "the unvarying respect, courtesy and loyal
support" which he had received at the hands of his col-
ored clergy and laity.

CHAPTER VI

Man ajid Bishop

In addition to his accomplishments as a clergyman, prel-
ate, and scholar, Bishop Cheshire attained considerable
skill and reputation as a sportsman. Fishing and hunting
were the sports he liked best and the only ones he in-
dulged in. He once remarked that he had been fond of
fishing from his boyhood, but he thought his liking for it
increased with age. His prowess as a fisherman was well
known to his churchmen from the coast to the mountains
of North Carolina. During the 1890's, when he was
building up his mountain work, he would sometimes
allow himself a few hours of relaxation to fish for the fine
trout in the cold mountain streams. As a good fisherman
should, he always carried his tackle with him when trav-
eling near promising streams. In later years, whenever he
had the opportunity, he returned to the mountains for a
brief vacation of fishing.

On one of these trips, accompanied by his son, Joseph
B. Cheshire, Jr., he was fishing in the Watauga River.
When they came to a ford, the Bishop recalled that he
had an old friend, Bill Holler, living a short distance
away, whom he would like very much to see. Accord-

78 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

ingly, they walked up the road about a half mile. Paus-
ing at the foot of a mountainside, the Bishop asked his
son to climb up and tell Mr. Holler that an old friend
wanted to see him, but not to mention his name. Shortly
afterwards, his son returned accompanied by a little old
man, with long white hair and beard and a pleasant,
wrinkled face. As soon as the old man saw his visitor, his
face lit up with a smile, he threw open his arms, rushed
up to the Bishop, and embraced him, crying: "Lord! It's
the old Bishop, the old Bishop, the old Bishop!"

The Bishop's fondness for hunting was almost as great
as that for fishing. He began hunting in early boyhood
but, according to his own statement, he never became a
good shot. Many of his hunting companions, however,
would undoubtedly contest the point. Among the people
of his Diocese he was famous for his skill in wild turkey
hunting. Strange as it may seem, he did not kill a wild
turkey until he was sixty-four years old. Up to that time
he had hunted partridges a great deal, but as he grew
older, he had to give it up because it required so much
walking. Hunting wild turkeys, although strenuous
enough, was better suited to his years. After his first kill,
scarcely a season passed that he did not bag at least one
turkey. As the Bishop's enthusiasm for this sport grew,
he made an interesting collection of turkey calls. They
ranged from several varieties made from the wing bone
of the turkey to the box type, which was usually made
of cedar.

Less than a month before his death Bishop Cheshire
went turkey hunting in the Roanoke River swamp, near
Scotland Neck. On this occasion, at the age of eighty-
two, he killed a fine gobbler. About a week later he was
to go to St. Stephen's Church, Oxford, for a visitation

Bishop Cheshire fishing in the French Broad River, Septe^uher, 1^12.

Photoiiiiiph by Bayard ll'<'<-IU-n

The FLvker-CbcsbirL' House in Tarboro, birthplace of Bisl?op Cheshire. The house -icas
built by Theophilus Parker, the Bishop's ;rra/!t.ifather.

Man and Bishop 79

and planned while there to go turkey shooting with his
friend, Rev. Reuben Meredith, rector of the church. His
son Godfrey was to join them for the hunt on Monday.
A few days before leaving home, however, he did not
feel at all well and, after consulting his physician, in-
formed his daughter. Miss Sarah Cheshire, he would give
up the hunt. But by Saturday the Bishop was feeling so
much better that on his way to Oxford he wrote his
daughter the following letter:

"Dear Sarah:

When Godfrey comes to Oxford tomorrow have him
bring my gun and the bag in which I keep my hunt-
ing clothes and turkey calls. I am going turkey hunting
on Monday.

'When the devil was sick the devil a monk would be,
When the devil was well the devil a monk was he.'

Your affectionate father,
Joseph Blount Cheshire"

Bishop Cheshire had an enviable reputation throughout
the state as a raconteur of rare charm. Some of his best
stories came from his fishing and hunting experiences,
but they covered many other subjects as well. Most of
his best anecdotes of personalities and events in North
Carolina history are found in his book Nonnulla. It was
not always the content of his stories which caught and
held the interest of his listeners, but quite as often the
manner in which the Bishop told them. For this reason
they sometimes lose their color and charm when read or
repeated by someone else. When he told an amusing
story, which he often did, one of its best features was his

8o Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

own enjoyment in the telling and his hearty, contagious
laughter. Another characteristic of the Bishop's stories
was the natural way they appeared in his conversation,
usually graphically illustrating or emphasizing a point.
He never dragged a story into his conversation merely
for the pleasure of telling it.

As a conversationalist, however, he did not depend
upon his ability to tell a good story. He could talk inter-
estingly to persons from any walk of life, seeming always
to know just the right thing to say to each. He never flat-
tered, but gave freely his candid opinion whenever re-
quested. Although he talked a great deal himself, the
Bishop made his listener feel that he was interested in his
ideas and wanted to hear them.

In his role as a preacher of sermons Bishop Cheshire
did not resemble his modem prototype, who quite often
is more of a brilhant lecturer than a preacher. The Bishop
employed no oratory in his sermons, but preached very
much as if he were talking to a group of friends. He
took a text from the Bible, most frequently from the
New Testament, and proceeded to expound and inter-
pret it, seldom using stories or anecdotes to illustrate his
ideas. They were unadorned, straightforward expositions
of religious truth. Of his sermons, the Bishop remarked
to one of his clergymen, "Because a man is not converted
to Christ through my teaching and preaching, I do not
on that account conclude that he has rejected Christ;
he has only rejected my representation of Christ."

Dr. Robert B. Drane, for more than fifty years rector
of St. Paul's Church, Edenton, once wrote of a rather
typical reaction to the Bishop's sermons. He invited a
man, who scarcely ever came to church, to come to
St. Paul's to hear Bishop Cheshire. The man said he

Man and Bishop 8 1

would be glad to, that he had heard the Bishop preach
several times, and that he "always talked sense," Dr.
Drane remarked that if the thousands of persons who be-
longed to no church could be made to realize that
"preachers did really talk sense," the membership of the
churches would increase and religion would be more
respected.

While not meaning to belittle the value of sermons,
Bishop Cheshire sincerely felt that the prayers, responses,
chants, and hymns of the church's service, climaxed by
the supreme act of Christian worship, the celebration of
the Holy Communion, held a greater significance for
mankind and better satisfied spiritual needs.

Bishop Cheshire's interest and activities extended to
all phases of the church's life in his Diocese. There was
scarcely any work or endeavor of his people too small to
attract his attention. He often remarked that it is "the
little things that count." It was his capacity to under-
stand and sympathize with the everyday problems of his
people that so greatly endeared him to them. Although
the Bishop never in any way permitted himself or his
clergy to become involved in controversial political af-
fairs, he displayed at all times a vital interest in the social
problems of his state. When he felt it to be the duty
of the church to take a positive stand on a social ques-
tion, he did not hesitate to make clear her position and
to take what action he believed best suited to the occa-
sion.

The increasing number of divorces in North Carolina
and the growing laxity of the laws on that subject was
a problem which gave the Bishop much concern. In
1904 he called the matter to the attention of his diocesan
convention and suggested a remedy for the situation.

82 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

The Bishop asserted that there had been sufficient talk
and theorizing upon the divorce question and that now
was the time for positive action. The apathy of the pub-
lic conscience, which had permitted the divorce law
to be greatly modified, was, in his opinion, the cause
of the divorce evil. Bishop Cheshire believed there was
only one true reason for divorce: adultery. For many
years it had been the only cause recognized by the state
law, but in recent years frequent changes in the law to
meet individual cases had created an unjustifiable condi-
tion. Not one of these modifications of the law had been
adopted upon "any general principle of morals or of
social science."

The Bishop called upon the convention to express its
condemnation of the present legislation on the divorce
question, and to issue an address to the people of the
state urging the necessity of reforming the divorce laws.
He also suggested that the convention appoint a com-
mittee to communicate with the other Christian bodies
of the state in order to secure united action on the sub-
ject. After serious deliberation, the convention indorsed
the Bishop's position. It authorized him to appoint a
committee, of which he should be chairman, to publish
an address to the people of the state expressing the senti-
ment of the Episcopal Church on the divorce question;
and to prepare a memorial to the General Assembly re-
questing that the divorce laws be restored to the status
of the code of 1883. The convention sent a request to
the Diocese of East Carolina, the Jurisdiction of Ashe-
ville, and all the other denominations of the state to
join in this memorial.

Bishop Cheshire lost no time in forwarding to every
church conference or synod, meeting prior to January,

Man and Bishop 8 3

1905, the resolutions of his diocesan convention. Favor-
able action was taken on the resolutions by the Presby-
terian, Methodist, Baptist, and Methodist Protestant
churches. The Bishop attended the Presbyterian Synod
and the Conference of the Methodist Church, and was
cordially received.

When the General Assembly met in 1905, Governor
Robert B. Glenn recommended that the divorce laws be
restored to the form as found in the code of 1883. After
a close consideration of the memorial of the North
Carolina churches, the legislature enacted a law which
embodied in substance the request of the memorialists.

Bishop Cheshire once more concerned himself with
the divorce problem when the legislature of 193 1 was
considering several bills for modifying the conditions for
granting divorces. At the time the bills were under dis-
cussion he was visiting his daughter in Louisiana. In
order to place his views on the subject before the legis-
lature, the Bishop addressed a letter to the chairman of
the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representa-
tives. It was published in the Neivs and Observer of
February 12.

He again attacked the practice of enacting special
laws for particular persons, and asserted that in some
incidents the laws were unconstitutional. He reviewed
the efforts which he and many other citizens had made
about twenty-five years before to restrict the causes for
granting divorce. With public opinion behind them, their
efforts had been successful, but since that time many of
the old abuses had reappeared. The Bishop declared that
from his knowledge of public opinion in North Carolina,
sentiment against relaxing the divorce laws was as strong
then as it had been twenty-five years before. In his letter

84 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

he confined himself to one principal idea, "the will of
the people of the State against personal influence in be-
half of individual parties," believing that it would pro-
duce a greater effect than if he merely reiterated the
usual moral and social arguments.

It cannot be said with certainty how much effect the
Bishop's letter had on the members of the legislature,
but coming from a man whose character and opinions
were held in such high regard by North Carolinians, it
must have had some influence upon the outcome. The
proposed measures were defeated by large majorities in
the General Assembly.

On one of the most controversial questions of the
twentieth century, national prohibition. Bishop Cheshire
held very definite views. He believed that each state
should be allowed to decide the question for itself, and
that a federal prohibition law would breed more evil
than good.

Several years before the passage of the national pro-
hibition law. Bishop Cheshire attended a meeting in
Raleigh which was considering various aspects of social
welfare work. He was present as an invited guest. The
business of the meeting was moving along smoothly,
when someone introduced a resolution to the effect that
the meeting should memorialize Congress with a demand
that the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages be
made illegal in the United States. The resolution was
received with much enthusiasm. Many speeches were
made advocating its passage and all were applauded.
After the enthusiasm had somewhat subsided and the
question was about to be put. Bishop Cheshire asked per-
mission to say a few words. He stated that he deplored
excessive drinking and its evil consequences, suffered

Man ajid Bishop 85

as much if not more by the innocent as well as the
drinker. He sympathized with the purpose of the reso-
lution to achieve more widespread temperance, but, he
reminded them, good intentions unless inteUigently di-
rected often did more harm than good. Under the Amer-
ican system each state or community had the authority
to outlaw liquor, as had already been done in North
Carolina. So long as the prohibition of liquor was con-
fined to those states whose public opinion was behind
it, he beheved it could be enforced. He did not think,
however, that a federal law could be enforced in those
states where public opinion and the state authorities were
in opposition. He maintained that what had already been
accomplished in some states in behalf of temperance
would be jeopardized if an attempt was made to impose
prohibition upon those states which were not yet ready
for it.

Upon the conclusion of the Bishop's remarks, there
was for a few moments complete silence. It was as if
someone had thrown cold water over the entire meeting.
When a member moved that the resolution be laid on
the table, not a voice was raised in opposition to the
motion, and the subject was dropped. The Bishop was
never one to allow his intelligence to be overruled by
emotionalism, and in stating his views on national pro-
hibition he not only displayed his sound judgment but
also proved himself a very good prophet.

Bishop Cheshire exercised a remarkable influence upon
the people of his Diocese. One aspect of the effect of his
character upon them is seen in the ready co-operation
and assistance they gave him in his work for the church.
The inspiration they caught from him was not a transient
enthusiasm, but one which carried over from one en-

86 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

deavor to another. Above all, the Episcopalians of the
Diocese loved their Bishop as a man— a vital, interesting
personality who possessed none of the unctuous pom-
pousness of the commonplace ecclesiastic. Miss Nell
Battle Lewis once aptly characterized the Bishop as
"much more than a Churchman, able Churchman though
he is. Foremost, he is a man— a gentleman— of the most
unswerving honesty, conviction, courage, kindness, hu-
mor, and charm." ^

Throughout almost all of his Episcopate Bishop Chesh-
ire had no secretary. By choice he attended to his cor-
respondence himself, writing all of his letters in long-
hand. Towards the end of his life he employed a secretary
for a short time, but soon found that he preferred to do
the work himself. He kept letter-books in which he en-
tered a record of every letter he wrote, giving the name
of the person written to, the date, and the place he was
writing from. According to his own records, he wrote
during his Episcopate 66,778 letters. The Bishop never
liked any help in doing something which he felt he was
able to do for himself.

As a father Bishop Cheshire won the admiration of
everyone who knew him. Each of his three daughters
and three sons gave him their wholehearted love, obedi-
ence, and respect throughout his lifetime. He gained and
held their devotion by his kindness, intelligence, and
sympathetic understanding. He was a strict disciplinar-
ian, but always preserved a tolerant and open-minded
attitude towards the desires and weaknesses of youth.
He treated his sons as men and expected them to act the
part.

The Bishop gave his children all the advantages he
could afford. Two of his sons were educated at the

Man a7id Bishop 87

University of North Carolina, and the third attended
the University of the South. His three daughters all went
to St. Mary's School. When one of his sons was leaving
home to enter college, the Bishop told him that he
would not ask him to promise to refrain from forming
bad habits at school, such as drinking and gambling, nor
would he accept such a promise if his son offered it. He
went on to say that he had tried to teach him right from
wrong and that his son well knew what things he could
do that would make his father happy and proud and
those which would make him unhappy and ashamed.
He wanted his son to conduct himself as a gentleman,
not because of any promises made, but for the sake of
decency. The Bishop asked him to remember that he
would always stand up for him as long as he was in
the right, but he would not defend him for a moment
if he were ever guilty of misconduct. This straightfor-
ward, manly counsel made a lasting impression upon the
son. It was typical of the Bishop's uncompromising and
practical way of thinking on moral questions.

CHAPTER VII

Historian

From his youth Bishop Cheshire had been fond of his-
tory, and as he grew older, his interest in it developed
into a serious avocation. While practicing law in Tar-
boro, he saw a good deal of his uncle-in-law, ex-Gov-
ernor Henry Clark, who had a decided taste for history.
He had an excellent library to which he made his nephew
welcome. Cheshire spent many happy hours browsing
among the old books and manuscripts and listening to
the conversation of his uncle. Governor Clark had a
thorough acquaintance with the early history of North
Carolina, particularly that of his own section. In later
years Bishop Cheshire said of his uncle: "I have often
felt that he had a greater influence than any other per-
son in developing my tastes and inclinations in the direc-
tion of historical inquiry." -^

For his first serious historical composition Cheshire
chose a subject with which he was intimately acquainted,
the history of the church in Edgecombe County. In a
series of articles, under the title, "An Historical Sketch
of the Church in Edgecombe County, North Carolina,"
which appeared in the Church Messenger from August

Historian 89

17 through September 21, 1880, he traced the history
of this parish from the colonial period through the rec-
torate of his father. The sketch is superior to the usual
parish history in that it concerned itself with the growth
and development of the church in Edgecombe rather
than with the genealogy of the famiHes in that county.

When Colonel William L. Saunders was in the proc-
ess of compiling the Colonial Records of North Caro-
lina, he asked Cheshire to make a collection of documents
relating to the colonial Episcopal Church. Cheshire se-
cured from Bishop Perry of Iowa, Historiographer of
the Episcopal Church, a large body of material, which
he had copied under his personal supervision. Colonel
Saunders found the material so interesting and valuable
that he incorporated it in its entirety in the several vol-
umes of the Colonial Records. In appreciation of his con-
tribution Cheshire was given a full set of this work.
In 1893 Judge Walter Clark, when he began to edit the
State Records of North Carolina, wrote Bishop Cheshire:
"I beg that you will aid me with your advice, sugges-
tions and information as to what should be published
and the best means of procuring materials." ^ This state-
ment well illustrates the high regard in which the Bish-
op's historical acumen was generally held.

In 1883, in the course of collecting materials for
Colonel Saunders, Cheshire visited Philadelphia. While
there he examined the records of the Pennsylvania Quak-
ers for information concerning the early Quaker settle-
ments in North Carolina. From his examination of these
records he found sufficient evidence to disprove the long-
held thesis that the early settlers of North Carolina were
religious refugees from New England and Virginia. His
conclusion was that the first settlers of the Albemarle

90 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

section came there primarily for economic reasons and
not for religious freedom. He embodied his findings in a
pamphlet called "The First Settlers of North Carolina
Not Religious Refugees." After reading the monograph,
Colonel Saunders wrote Cheshire: "You have not only
proved your proposition; You have dejnonstrated itT ^
Saunders adopted the same interpretation in his preface
to the first volume of the Colonial Records. Cheshire's
original thesis was further expanded and substantiated
by future historians of the state.

In 1882 Cheshire edited and published the documents
relating to the four conventions, held between 1790 and
1794, which had made the abortive attempt to set up a
diocesan organization in North Carolina. The documents
of three of these conventions had never been published
before. They threw much light upon an important phase
of the early history of the Episcopal Church in North
CaroHna.

The Diocese recognized Cheshire's ability as an histo-
rian by electing him historiographer at the convention of
1884. The convention of 1876 had created this ofiice,
and had elected Dr. M. M. Marshall, Rector of Christ
Church, Raleigh, the first historiographer. It had also
passed a resolution requiring each clergyman to compile
a history of his parish. When Cheshire became historiog-
rapher eight years later, only a few of the clergy had
complied with the resolution. After examining the his-
tories which had been written, he found that, with a few
exceptions, they were of no value. Several months after
his election, in an article for the Church Messenger, he
stressed the importance of preserving local church his-
tory. He announced that he was making a collection of
old documents and pamphlets on church history for the

Historian 9 1

Diocese, and he requested anyone possessing these mate-
rials to send them to him. One of Cheshire's chief con-
tributions as historiographer was the interest he aroused
among the churchmen in the history of the church and of
their respective parishes.

The pubhcation of the Colonial Records of North
Carolina further stimulated his interest in historical re-
search. He planned and began to write the "Annals of
the Church in the Province of North Carolina." He
worked upon this history whenever he found an oppor-
tunity, but after his election as bishop his duties were
so pressing that he had to abandon the project. He had
made considerable progress, however, before laying it
aside. His research was not done in vain, for he was able
to use much of it in one of the papers he presented be-
fore the centennial convention of the dioceses of East
Carolina and North Carolina in 1890.

Probably Cheshire's most productive act as historiog-
rapher of the Diocese was to initiate and successfully
direct the celebration of the one-hundredth anniversary
of the convention of 1790. This convention, held in Tar-
boro, had made the first, although unsuccessful, attempt
to form a diocese in North Carolina. As the centennial
of the event drew near, Cheshire thought that it should
be commemorated in some appropriate manner. Accord-
ingly, at the diocesan convention of 1889 he introduced
a series of resolutions calling for a joint convention of
the dioceses of North Carolina and East Carolina to be
held at Tarboro the following year. The resolutions were
adopted and a committee on arrangements appointed,
with Dr. Jarvis Buxton as chairman. Commenting on the
proceedings, Cheshire frankly remarked: "I took care,
however, to get myself elected Secretary of the Com-

92 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

mittee; and the Committee cheerfully allowed me to do
all the work." *

The Committee on Arrangements decided that the
most fitting and profitable manner of celebrating the
occasion would be to present a series of papers on the
history of the Episcopal Church in North Carolina.
Cheshire organized the program, selecting the writers
and the subjects of the papers.

The joint convention met in Tarboro May 16-18,
1890, and was well attended by churchmen from both
dioceses. The papers covered the history of the church
in the colony, its decay following the Revolution, and
its revival after 18 17. Cheshire read a paper on "The
Church in the Province of North Carolina." At the
close of the proceedings, the convention resolved that
the addresses should be published in book form under
Cheshire's editorial direction. Upon the motion of the
Rev. Robert Strange, it was also resolved: "That the
thanks of the joint Convention of North and East Caro-
lina be extended to the Rev. J. B. Cheshire, Jr., for con-
ceiving and carrying to so successful an issue the re-
union which has been so delightful and edifying to us
all."

Since there was not sufficient time, all of the addresses
prepared for the joint convention were not delivered.
In addition to the paper Cheshire read, he also wrote
two others— "Decay and Revival, 1 800-1 830" and
"White Haven Church and the Rev. Robert Johnston
Miller." These papers, as well as all the others written
for the centennial celebration, were published in a vol-
ume entitled Sketches of Church History in North Caro-
lina. Besides the three papers and his editorial work,
Cheshire wrote the introduction to this book. The vol-

Historian 93

ume is a distinct contribution to the history of the Epis-
copal Church in North CaroHna. Prior to this time Httle
of any value had been written on the subject. Cheshire's
articles are probably more scholarly than any of the
others, and they definitely reveal more research in orig-
inal sources.

In recognition of Cheshire's achievements as a clergy-
man and his contributions as a historian, the University
of North Carolina at its commencement of 1890 con-
ferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Four
years later the University of the South bestowed upon
him the same honor, and in 1 9 1 6 his alma mater, Trinity
College, Hartford, Connecticut, also gave him the degree
of Doctor of Divinity. He was not one to seek honors,
but when they were conferred upon him he appreciated
them, particularly the thought which motivated the be-
stowal. Bishop Cheshire became an honorary member of
the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati in 1897
and a few years later an hereditary member. He served
for a time as chaplain of the North Carolina Society
and later of the national organization.

Although his diocesan work occupied most of his
time, the Bishop found the opportunity now and again
throughout his episcopate to write articles for ecclesias-
tical and historical publications. The subject matter of
most of his writings was drawn chiefly from North Caro-
lina history. One of his most interesting departures from
this practice was the editing of George Herbert's A
Priest to the Temple or, the Country Parson, His Char-
acter and Rule of Holy Life. This work, first published
in 1652, had attracted his attention when he was a young
lawyer in Baltimore. He was greatly impressed at the
time with its earnestness and its spiritual character. When

94 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

in 1905 Professor Palmer, of Harvard University, edited
the complete works of Herbert, the Country Parson was
again brought to the Bishop's attention. He decided to
bring out a special edition of the Country Parson in
order to make it available to all of the clergy. The work
appeared in 1908 and was dedicated to his father, whose
sixty years in the ministry splendidly illustrated Her-
bert's ideal of a country parson. In his introduction to
the book Bishop Cheshire commented: "It is not too
much to say of it that for beauty and truth to nature,
for its combination of the ideal and the practical, for
its presentation of an almost heavenly perfection in
terms of human experience, it has not its equal in the
religious literature of our language." Whenever sending
out a young clergyman as a country parson, he always
tried to supply him with a copy of this work, believing
that it would be of great value to him and his parish-
ioners.

At the request of the editor of the Carolina Churchman
Bishop Cheshire wrote, in 1910-1911, a sketch of the
life of each of his predecessors, Bishops Ravenscroft,
Ives, Atkinson, and Lyman. He did not make the
sketches serious biographical studies, but tried to present
intimate pictures of the four bishops, including a few
amusing anecdotes. The sketch of Bishop Ravenscroft
is probably the best and the most interesting.

In the course of 19 10 and 191 1, at the invitation of the
Episcopal seminaries at Sewanee, Alexandria, New York,
Philadelphia, Cambridge, and Middletown, Bishop Chesh-
ire delivered a series of lectures on the history of the
Episcopal Church in the Confederate States. The lec-
tures were well received, and upon their conclusion the
Bishop was urged to put them in permanent form. Real-

Historian 95

izing that the interest in the subject was fairly wide-
spread, he decided to arrange the lectures for publica-
tion. In 191 2 Longmans, Green, and Company published
them under the title, The Church in the Confederate
States.

In this work the Bishop describes the organization of
the Episcopal Church in the Confederacy, the church's
work among the soldiers, its attitude towards the Ne-
groes, its trials and burdens, its publications, and, finally,
the reunion of the northern and southern branches of
the church. Following the last chapter he included a
brief study of the life of Thomas Atkinson, Bishop of
North Carolina, 185 3-1 881, who had been one of the
most important exponents of the reunion of the church
in 1865.

In general, the critics praised the Bishop's work as a
significant contribution. Of it the Outlook remarked:
"His account of the attitude of the Church in its politi-
cal relations throughout those sad and trying times is
free from any tinge of bitterness. Its narrative of the
work of bishops and councils, and of the ministries of
the church to the soldiers and to the slaves, deserves to
be widely read for the little-known facts it records."
The Churchman, of New York, declared: "The temper
of Bishop Cheshire's narrative is admirable, his account of
perplexing constitutional questions that arose from the re-
lations of the Church to the Confederacy and to the Union
is clear, his analysis of the issues is penetrating and acute,
his conclusions will be generally accepted." The church
periodicals. North and South, were unanimous in their
praise of the Bishop's work. They felt he had done the
American Episcopal Church a great service in preserving
this phase of her history. The Church Tiines, of London,

g6 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

thought that while the book was interesting and informa-
tive, it was not fair to the northern church. Many of
the reviewers considered the last chapter of the work,
which discussed the reunion of the church in 1865, the
most interesting and significant. The Bishop was able
to write of this particular subject with intimacy, since
his father had taken an active part in the reunion.

The Church in the Confederate States is Bishop Chesh-
ire's most important historical contribution. In it his
style is direct, simple, and restrained. It describes and
interprets a phase of Civil War history which had never
before been adequately treated, and since its publication
no work on the subject has superseded it. For his in-
formation Bishop Cheshire relied almost entirely upon
original sources. Some of the more personal incidents,
however, were gained from actual participants in that
stormy period.

On one of his visitations to Milnor Jones' missions in
Watauga County, Bishop Cheshire told Jones that if he
should outlive him he would see that some recognition
was made of Jones' work. Many years later the Bishop
fulfilled his promise by writing the volume, Milnor
Jones, Deacon and Missionary . The greater part of this
biography is devoted to the years 1 894-1 897, which
Jones spent in the mountains of North Carolina. It is
an interesting picture of that most unique character, and
a good description of both the difficult and sometimes
amusing sides of missionary work in the mountains. Al-
though the Bishop liked and admired Jones, he did not
fail to bring out his faults as well as his many virtues.

Bishop Cheshire's last important literary work * was

* For a complete list of the Bishop's published writings, see pp.
131-133.

Historian 97

his reminiscences of personalities and incidents in North
Carolina history. He gave these memories the title Non-
rmlla, meaning "Not Nothings." The Bishop began this
book on his seventy-fifth birthday, and completed it
five years later. He included in it stories and anecdotes
about people and places not customarily found in the
serious histories, but which are not entirely without sig-
nificance "as illustrating, in an informal and familiar
way, the life of our State and our people." Nonnulla
is replete with human interest to North Carolinians, and
contributes much to their understanding of some of the
characters who helped to build their state.

In recognition of Bishop Cheshire's contributions to
North Carolina history, the State Literary and Historical
Association elected him its president for 193 1. In his
presidential address the Bishop discussed the religious
provisions of the Fundamental Constitutions prepared by
John Locke for the Lords Proprietors of Carolina. Al-
though Locke's document was never put into effect, its
provisions for religious freedom, in the Bishop's opinion,
"perhaps found lodgment in the life of the people and
attained a better development in their subsequent his-
tory." ^ While the Church of England was made the
established church of the colony, liberty of conscience
was permitted to all except atheists. Elaborating upon
the theme of religious freedom, he demonstrated that
the colonial government did not practice religious in-
tolerance even though laws were enacted for the support
of an established church.

With his presidential address to the State Literary and
Historical Association, Bishop Cheshire concluded his
work as an historian. It was a fitting close to this phase
of his life. Although history had been to him a pleasant

98 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

avocation, no professional historian ever took his work
more seriously or had a higher ideal of historical accu-
racy. In the words of Dr. A. R. Newsome, of the Uni-
versity of North Carolina, "Native ability, industry and
self-discipline enabled him to achieve a degree of histori-
cal scholarship seldom encountered among laymen." The
Episcopal Church in North Carolina owes him a debt
of lasting gratitude for his pioneer work in its history.

CHAPTER VIII

Work Among the Colored People

Bishop Cheshire's active interest in the church's work
among the Negroes began when he was rector of St.
Peter's Church, Charlotte. His organization of the col-
ored mission of St. Michael and All Angels and the part
he took in helping to establish the Good Samaritan Hos-
pital have already been related. When he became bishop
he continued and greatly enlarged his activities in behalf
of the Negro work.

In the early part of his episcopate the Bishop made an
address to the Conference of Church Workers Among
Colored People, in which he expressed some interesting
ideas on the colored work. He first pointed out that the
reconstruction acts had failed to accomplish for the
Negro many of their designed objectives. Although those
acts were for the most part of a purely political charac-
ter, he realized many sincere people in the North had ad-
vocated them in the belief that they would help the
Negro. In his opinion, the legislation of the reconstruc-
tion period had not accomplished for the colored people
what its sincerest advocates had confidently expected. If
the Negroes are to play a significant role in the future of

I oo Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

this country, the Bishop declared, "it will be only be-
cause they shall have become fitted for that part. No
theories of predominant political equality will avail for
preserving privileges which are not exercised for the
benefit of the community. ..." He believed that the dis-
abilities of the Negro could not be removed, nor the
disadvantages under which he worked conquered, by
legislation against particular evils, "but simply by chang-
ing the actual conditions of the race itself." Those who
are interested in the welfare of the Negro must work for
the elevation of his ideals of living, of working, and of
self-restraint. The Bishop emphasized the importance of
developing a spirit of self-reliance and self-help among
the colored clergy and laity, believing this to be the best
means by which they could strengthen their economic
and social position.

The colored churchmen of the Diocese soon learned
that in Bishop Cheshire they had a staunch friend and
one from whom they could count upon receiving a fair
and sympathetic hearing. He reciprocated this confi-
dence with a like faith in them. It was a regular practice
of the Bishop to attend only the first day's session of the
annual meetings of the white and colored convocations.
He did this in order to give the clergy an opportunity
of "speaking their mind freely." He always remembered
an observation of George Eliot that "the first thing the
clergy do, when they get together in convocation, is to
abuse the Bishop." In this connection Bishop Cheshire
once remarked: "I do not know what the white clergy
may do, but I do not believe my black clergy will have
anything to say against me even in my absence." ^

At the opening of the twentieth century one of the
most important questions facing the Episcopal Church in

Work Among the Colored People i o i

the South was the separation of the Negro work in each
diocese from that of the white. Bishop Cheshire was
strongly opposed to any separation of the church's work
founded solely on the racial feeling. He disliked to see
the unity of the Diocese disrupted, and beheved the ideal
situation was "a church and a diocese which in its annual
gatherings should represent visibly the oneness of all
races and colors in Christ." " He realized, however, that
he could not be guided entirely by his personal feelings
on a question of such importance. A large body of the
Negro clergy and many white churchmen throughout
the South felt that the welfare of the church demanded
some sort of separate organization for the colored work.
When he met his diocesan convention in the spring of
1907, Bishop Cheshire announced his position on this ques-
tion. Since the colored people seemed to desire an organ-
ization of their own, he believed the time had come for
the church to take some definite action. He asked the
convention to make known its views on the question of
separation, since it would come up for discussion in the
General Convention that fall. The Bishop stated that two
plans of organization for the Negroes were being con-
sidered. One provided for the consecration of suffragan
bishops who should have charge of the colored clergy
and laity and should be under the diocesan bishop. The
other called for the consecration of missionary bishops
who should have charge of the colored work in contigu-
ous dioceses and who should be responsible to the Gen-
eral Convention. The Bishop declared that he was heart-
ily in favor of the latter plan, believing that it met the
needs of existing conditions much more justly and ad-
equately than the former. Moreover, the colored people
themselves seemed to favor the plan of using missionary

I02 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

bishops. If they were used they would be under the di-
rect control of the General Convention and would be
given more independence than suifragan bishops, who
would be under the administrative jurisdiction of the
white diocesan bishop. Bishop Cheshire felt that if the
colored work was to be made independent of the white,
the Negro bishops should be given some administrative
as well as spiritual responsibilities.

When the convention took up the question of the col-
ored work, it referred the whole matter to a special com-
mittee. After careful study, the committee recommended
that the Negroes be given a separate organization, that
the plan of missionary bishops be adopted, and that the
deputies from the Diocese should present these recom-
mendations to the General Convention. The committee's
report was adopted.

At the General Convention, which met in the fall of
1907, the Conference of Church Workers among Colored
People presented a memorial in which it advocated a
separate organization for the Negroes and the election of
suffragan bishops. A joint committee of the House of
Bishops and the House of Deputies, of which Bishop
Cheshire was made a member, was appointed to consider
the memorial. This committee recommended the adop-
tion of the principal features of the memorial. Bishop
Cheshire and one other member of the committee pre-
sented a minority report in which they urged the use of
missionary bishops. Their report was defeated in the
House of Bishops by a vote of fifty to thirty-four, while
that of the majority was carried, forty-five to thirty-
three. After the defeat of his proposal, Bishop Cheshire
voted for the majority's report, believing it preferable to
no action on the subject.

Work Among the Colored People 103

The question of the racial episcopate was, however,
far from being settled. During the next three meetings of
the General Convention Bishop Cheshire and a few oth-
ers continued to work for the adoption of the plan of
missionary bishops. In 191 3 they succeeded in getting the
plan approved by the House of Bishops, but it was de-
feated by the House of Deputies. The southern bishops
and clergy were the most undecided as to what plan they
wanted to put into effect. Up to 19 18 the Diocese of
North Carolina had taken no action towards electing a
suffragan bishop for the colored work. In 191 7 Bishop
Cheshire advised his diocesan convention to consider the
question. The next year the convention voted to proceed
to the election of a suffragan bishop.

Before nominations for the office were called for,
Bishop Cheshire gathered together the colored clergy
and laity of the convention for an informal discussion.
He told them that, in his opinion, Rev. Henry B. Delany,
who was then archdeacon of the colored convocation,
was the best man for the office. Rev. M. A. Barber
strongly represented the quahfications of the Rev. Mr.
Baskerville, who had been recommended by Bishop
Guerry, of South Carolina. Mr. Delany then withdrew
from the conference, and Bishop Cheshire asked the col-
ored clergy to express themselves frankly on their pref-
erence. Every one of them expressed the opinion that,
while they thought Baskerville was an excellent man, they
did not think he could compare with Delany in qualifi-
cations for the office of bishop. Of this unanimity of opin-
ion, Bishop Cheshire remarked: "It was something of a
surprise to me— for I really did not know how strong
their feelings were."

When the convention proceeded to the election of a

1 04 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

suffragan bishop, Delany was the only man nominated.
He received every vote of the clergy and laity. When he
was presented to the convention and asked to say a few
words, he simply remarked: "I cannot speak. I cannot
utter what I feel. I thank you." Bishop Cheshire char-
acterized his laconic expression as "about the best speech
he could possibly have made." ^

Archdeacon Delany was highly esteemed by both
white and colored churchmen, and his election met with
general satisfaction throughout the Diocese. Bishop
Guerry wrote Bishop Cheshire that he thought Delany
was "the logical man and I believe you have made a wise
choice. ... I envy you the privilege of having been the
first Diocese in the Carolinas to take the lead in so far
reaching a policy,"

It will be remembered that while rector of St. Peter's,
Bishop Cheshire had established in Charlotte a mission
for Negroes, St. Michael and All Angels. Shortly after
it was well started. Rev. Primus P. Alston, a colored
priest, was placed in charge of the mission. Alston was an
energetic and progressive man. He soon began a manual-
training school for Negro boys and girls, which he called
St. Michael's Industrial School. In time he erected build-
ings at a cost of about eight thousand dollars, raising al-
most all of the money by himself. After some twenty
years of splendid work as head of this school, Rev. Mr.
Alston died in 1910. Bishop Cheshire at once decided that
something must be done to preserve the valuable work
which Alston had carried on so successfully. Realizing
the high regard which the people of Charlotte had for
the man and his work, the Bishop determined to lay the
question of the future of St. Michael's School before a
body of representative citizens of Charlotte in the hope

Work Among the Colored People 105

of making it a civic enterprise, irrespective of denomi-
national interests but still under the official administration
of the diocesan bishop. Acting upon this decision, the
Bishop called together in Charlotte a group of pro-
gressive men representing different denominations. He
pointed out that the school was the property of the Dio-
cese of North Carolina, that it had for more than twenty
years done a great work for the community, and that no
religious test was made an entrance requirement, al-
though religious training was a part of the school's work.
The Bishop then asked the group if it would act with
him as a board of managers for the direction and main-
tenance of the school. The men displayed a sympathetic
interest, and promised to co-operate with him in any
plan for making permanent the work of the institution.
The Bishop thereupon organized the Board of Managers
of St. Michael's Industrial School, under whose control
it continued to operate.

When Bishop Cheshire met his diocesan convention in
191 2, he reported what he had done and asked for its en-
dorsement of his action and its assent to the new plan for
operating the school. The convention confirmed the
Bishop's work and consented to his plan for continuing
St. Michael's School. Thus, by his promptness and re-
sourcefulness, he preserved for the church and the com-
munity of Charlotte a valuable institution.

Bishop Cheshire's work among the Negroes of his
Diocese received recognition from the national church
when, in 191 1, he was elected chairman of the Advisory
Council of the American Church Institute for Negroes.
The Institute had been organized in 1 906 for the purpose
of aiding the larger Episcopal schools for Negroes, such
as St. Augustine's, the Bishop Payne Divinity School,

io6 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

and others. From this time forward he received a number
of invitations to speak in the dioceses of the North on
various phases of the church's work among the Negroes
of the South. One of his most interesting addresses on
this subject was made before the Woman's AuxiUary of
the Diocese of Long Island at its annual meeting in 191 5.

In this address the Bishop declared that the fact the
Negro was increasing in population meant to him that
"God is not done with him. He has something for him to
do." The Negro had not only survived his contact with
a higher civilization, but had made in it a place for him-
self. "Protected and trained by his two and a half cen-
turies of American slavery, the greatest blessing which
up to this time he has ever known," the Negro had lived
through emancipation and the "incalculable injustice
of his premature enfranchisement." He was turning from
false political and social aspirations and attempting to lay
sound foundations for his moral and material develop-
ment. Referring to the religion of the Negro, Bishop
Cheshire observed that he found it very little different
from that of the white man. He spoke of the Negro's
gift of rehgious emotion, which might be dangerous, "yet
it is a gift; and it is needed to give power and life to
faith." The Bishop declared that the church set up a
standard for the Negro to live by, it acknowledged him
as a brother, and it gave him a definite place in its organ-
ization.

In answer to the question of what the Woman's Auxil-
iary could do for the Negro, Bishop Cheshire replied it
should try to teach the colored churches to support
themselves and to be willing and able to aid others. As
for a particular work the organization could undertake,
he emphasized the importance of hospital care. This was

Work Among the Colored People 1 07

a vital need and one which the Negro by himself could
not supply.'*

The address was well received, although a few of the
ideas contained in it were doubtless a little disturbing to
some of the listeners. The Bishop was fearless in express-
ing his convictions, and was ever ready to defend them
when necessary.

St. Augustine's School for Negroes was founded in
1867 by North Carolina churchmen. It was built and
maintained, however, by northern churchmen and agen-
cies. While the school was not a diocesan institution,
Bishop Cheshire throughout his episcopate gave it his full
co-operation and support. He had a personal interest in
the school, for his father had been one of the original in-
corporators. As ex-officio president of the Board of
Trustees he kept in close contact with the development
of St. Augustine's. Realizing that his state benefited most
from the school, Bishop Cheshire time and time again
urged his people to give it every encouragement and as-
sistance within their means.

In appreciation of his services to St. Augustine's, the
authorities of the school resolved to name a proposed
new building for Bishop Cheshire. Of this decision, the
presiding bishop, John Gardner Murray, remarked: "I
can conceive of nothing more splendid that the Church
or community could do than to erect at St. Augustine's
a building in honor of Bishop Cheshire. The work itself
is most deserving in every way, and the Bishop whose
name you propose to have associated with it, is one of the
greatest Bishops in our Church in his every relationship
thereto." ^

The dedication of the Cheshire Building at St. Augus-
tine's College took place on Bishop Cheshire's eightieth

io8 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

birthday, March 27, 1930. In the course of the ceremony
the Bishop deHvered an address in which he traced the
history of St. Augustine's from its estabUshment as a sim-
ple normal school to its present collegiate status. He
touched upon the development of Negro education in
the South since 1865, and emphasized the importance of
this fact in the growth of a better relationship between
the races. St. Augustine's, said the Bishop, in a larger
sense represents the church's attitude towards the Negro
problem in America and what it has done to solve that
problem.

Dr. A. B. Hunter, principal of the school for twenty-
five years, made a short talk in which he spoke of the
Bishop's loyal support of St. Augustine's. He ascribed
much of the institution's success to the "unfailing sym-
pathy and material assistance of the Bishop." Towards
the end of the ceremony a portrait of Bishop Cheshire,
hanging in the hall of the new building, was unveiled.

Coming as it did towards the end of his life, this ex-
pression of appreciation from the colored people was a
fitting close to the Bishop's work among the Negroes.
He understood and respected his colored people, and in
return they loved him and gave him their loyalty and
confidence.

CHAPTER IX

Development and Conclusion of
the Bishop's Work

In the first decade of his episcopate Bishop Cheshire laid
the foundation for almost all of his future work. The re-
mainder of his life was devoted to expansion and im-
provement. This program demanded all of his thought
and energy and, as it progressed, became almost more
than one man could administer. The Bishop never com-
plained of being overworked, but when he realized he
was no longer physically able to meet the demands of his
office, he did not hesitate to ask for assistance.

A pleasant and interesting interlude in the routine of
the Bishop's busy life was a trip to England in the sum-
mer of 1908. The object of the trip was to attend the
Pan-Anglican Congress and the Lambeth Conference.
The Bishop and Mrs. Cheshire sailed from New York
and landed at Liverpool on May 28. Since the Pan-
Anglican Congress was not to open for about two weeks,
they spent the intervening time sightseeing and visiting
friends. Among the many interesting places they visited
was the old Abbey of Valle Crucis in Wales for which
Bishop Ives had named his mission school in the moun-

109

1 1 o Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

tains of North Carolina. The Bishop observed that here,
however, there was no natural cruciform arrangement of
valleys and streams which so distinguished his Valle Cru-
cis mission.

The Pan- Anglican Congress was opened on June 15
by an impressive service held in Westminster Abbey. The
Congress was composed of bishops, clergymen, laymen,
and laywomen representing the Anglican communion
from all parts of the world. There were six thousand
delegates present, but they were divided into a number
of sections for the discussion of every phase of church
work. Bishop Cheshire attended the sessions of one of
these sections every day, but he did not have time to
enter in his journal much about the proceedings. On one
occasion, when the topic for discussion was the church's
work among the Negroes of North America, he was one
of the speakers. He later remarked that he had scarcely
warmed to his subject before his allotted time was gone.

On another occasion the Bishop was invited to a break-
fast given by the Church Temperance Society. At the
breakfast he was seated next to the Bishop of London,
who was to preside over a meeting of the Society follow-
ing the meal. In the course of conversation Bishop Cheshire
remarked to the Bishop of London that "in America at
least as far as concerned my part of it, drinking was un-
known among women." The English prelate seemed to
be greatly impressed by this statement. After the break-
fast there were several scheduled speakers who talked on
the problem of intemperance. They all agreed that the
use of intoxicants in England as a whole had improved,
but that the discouraging feature of the situation was the
increased use of them by women. The Bishop of London
announced that the meeeting would like to hear from the

Conclusion of the Bishop's Work 1 1 1

United States, and he would, therefore, call upon Bishop
Cheshire for a few words. As he rose to speak, the Bishop
of London said to him, "Tell them what you have been
telling me." After commenting on the work of the
Church Temperance Society, he complied with the re-
quest and added: "I beheve it to be true of all parts of
the United States that among the descendants of the
original English, Scotch , and Scotch-Irish settlers of
America, intemperance or the use of intoxicating drinks
among the women is unknown, or so extremely rare as to
amount to nothing in looking at the situation in its gen-
eral aspect." ^ His audience displayed a keen interest in
his views.

The Pan- Anglican Congress closed on June 24 with a
service in St. Paul's Cathedral. Bishop Cheshire thought
that the Congress was "the most remarkable religious
gathering of recent times." He was particularly impressed
by the deep interest the British public and press took in
the proceedings of the Congress. The capacity of the
great Albert Hall was taxed to hold the average daily
attendance of twelve thousand persons.

The Lambeth Conference, which opened on July 5,
did not attract as much attention as usual, since it fol-
lowed so closely upon the Pan-Anglican Congress. Its
work, however, was none the less significant in the life
of the church. Bishop Cheshire considered its proceed-
ings more interesting than those of 1897. He noted that
the younger bishops took a more active part than they
had in the previous Conference. He served as a member
of the Committee on Foreign Missions.

Bishop Cheshire returned to England in the summer of
1920 to attend his third and final Lambeth Conference.
He was then seventy years old but in good health and

1 1 2 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

still capable of doing a full day's work. He regularly at-
tended the sessions of the Conference, and manifested as
much interest as ever in its work.

The Bishop was made a member of the Committee on
Christianity and International Relations, which was to
deal in particular with the League of Nations. He found
the work of the committee very interesting, but later re-
marked that the American bishops on the committee
found themselves in an embarrassing position, since the
League of Nations had been made a political issue in the
presidential campaign of that year.^ Bishop Cheshire felt
that this Lambeth Conference surpassed the two previous
ones in the importance of the work accomplished and in
the probable results. The Conference took much "wider
and freer views" of the questions discussed. The Bishop
observed that some of the speeches which were received
with decided approval were strongly opposed to all that
had been the traditional policy of the church.

Upon the close of the Conference Bishop and Mrs.
Cheshire, accompanied by their friends. Dr. and Mrs. A.
B. Hunter, spent a few weeks traveling on the Continent.
The Bishop particularly enjoyed his visit to Switzerland,
whose mountain scenery greatly impressed him. He al-
ways thought, however, that his North Carolina moun-
tains were more beautiful and appealing than the more
spectacular Alps. On one Sunday which the Cheshires
and Hunters spent at Gletsch, Switzerland, the Bishop
took his little party out into the country. In the presence
of the great Rhone glacier with his "congregation" sit-
ting on rocks about him, he read the Morning Prayer,
omitting not one part of it.

In addition to his three visits to Europe, Bishop Chesh-
ire made one other trip beyond the borders of the United

Conclusion of the Bishops s Work 1 1 3

States. In 1910 the Archbishop of the West Indies in-
vited a number of American bishops to Jamaica to assist
in the consecration of the churches which had been re-
built on the island after the disastrous earthquake of
1907. Bishop Cheshire accepted the invitation and, as it
turned out, was the sole representative of the American
Episcopal Church. The consecration ceremonies took
place in January, 1 9 1 1 . During his stay of about two
weeks the Bishop participated in the consecration of five
or six churches. Describing the ecclesiastical procession
at one of the ceremonies, the Daily Neivs of Kingston,
Jamaica, commented: "There was then the stern Prelate
of North Carolina just south of Mason and Dixon's line;
Prelate of a vast domain many, many times the size of
this island, and with a problem something like ours."
This exaggerated description amused the Bishop a great
deal. He enjoyed his visit, particularly riding about the
island observing the customs and manners of the natives.
He always took a keen pleasure in learning about new
places and their people.

Turning now to diocesan affairs, we find Bishop
Cheshire preparing to begin a long campaign to free St.
Mary's School from its burdensome debt and to raise an
adequate endowment for the institution. When he ad-
dressed the convention of 191 2 he reminded the mem-
bers that on October 15, 191 3, he would complete
twenty years as bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina.
In his opinion, the most important work accomplished in
this period was the establishment of St. Mary's as a dio-
cesan school. The Bishop declared that he would like to
celebrate his twentieth anniversary by paying off the
debt on St. Mary's and by raising one hundred thousand
dollars towards a permanent endowment. He wished,

1 14 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

therefore, to devote much of his time for the next
eighteen months to this end, and asked for the conven-
tion's support. The convention indorsed his suggestion
and promised its co-operation.

At the convention of 1 9 1 3 a special committee on an
endowment for St. Mary's was appointed to work with
the Bishop. Notwithstanding the efforts of Bishop Chesh-
ire and the committee, very little money was raised by
the anniversary of his consecration. Thus, the matter
stood until 1 9 1 6, when Bishop Cheshire proposed an ex-
ceedingly ambitious program. The plan called for raising
fifty thousand dollars to retire the school's funded debt
and to meet certain necessary expenses, one hundred
thousand dollars as an endowment, and another hundred
thousand for additions and improvements. It was further
suggested that the dioceses of East Carolina, South Caro-
lina, and the Jurisdiction of Asheville should be asked to
co-operate in this endeavor. The convention adopted the
plan, and the quota for Bishop Cheshire's Diocese was set
at seventy-five thousand dollars.

The Bishop was untiring in his efforts to interest his
people in the needs and promising future of St. Mary's.
The program for raising the endowment was progressing
well when the war disrupted its work, but the campaign
was by no means abandoned. By the end of 192 1 more
than one hundred and forty-six thousand dollars had
been pledged. Two years later the Bishop reported that
St. Mary's School was free of all debt. The generous gifts
to the school by Mr. Lawrence Holt and Mr. WilHam
A. Erwin, which followed shortly afterwards, gave the
Bishop much pleasure and made him feel that the work
which he considered the most important of his episcopate
was now permanently established.

Cojiclusion of the Bishop's Work 1 1 5

When America entered the World War in 19 17,
Bishop Cheshire felt that President Wilson was fully
justified in asking Congress for a declaration of war. Of
the conflict he observed that, while America as a nation
had committed errors and evils in the past, he believed
that as far as the present war was concerned, "we know
that we have no selfish purpose or desires." The Bishop
was upholding a cause which was brought close home to
him, for he had two sons who volunteered and later saw
service in France. He had very definite ideas on duty to
one's country, and httle patience with those pacifists who
held that a Christian could not go to war. In his opinion,
such an argument was no more valid than it would be to
say that one should not protect one's home and family
against thieves and murderers. "We owe everything that
we are—" declared the Bishop, "all that we have to our
Country. We owe her ourselves." ^ In the course of the
war he gave voice to these views in many of his sermons.

When the Bishop heard that a camp for training sol-
diers was to be established in Charlotte, he called to-
gether the Episcopal clergy of that city for a discussion
of the problem of caring for the needs of thirty or forty
thousand soldiers who were expected there. They de-
vised plans for keeping open the parish houses of the sev-
eral churches for the use of the soldiers, and the best
means of caring for their religious life. The Bishop ad-
dressed a letter to the people of the Diocese asking them
to give every possible assistance to their friends in Char-
lotte in this great responsibility.

As Bishop Cheshire was about to complete a quarter of
a century as head of the Diocese of North Carolina, it
was planned to celebrate the occasion with a special

1 1 6 Bishop Joseph Bloimt Cheshire

service in Calvary Church, Tarboro, on October 15,
191 8. But when the time came for the celebration, it had
to be postponed because of the influenza epidemic. It was
finally held in Raleigh at the closing session of the con-
vention of 19 19. The Bishop delivered an address in
which he traced the history of the Diocese during his
episcopate. The convention then by a unanimous rising
vote adopted the following resolution introduced by Dr.
R. D. W. Connor:

"That gratefully acknowledging our obligations to
Almighty God for the many evidences of His Divine
guidance in the affairs of His Church throughout this
period of its history, we are especially grateful to Him
for the love and care with which He has preserved the
physical strength, the mental vigor and power, and the
spiritual grace and consecration of our beloved Bishop.
Resolved further, that this Diocese is greatly indebted to
Bishop Cheshire for the sympathetic spirit, the unflag-
ging zeal and never-failing wisdom and the statesman-
like vision with which, under God, he has directed its
affairs, shaped its policies, and guided its growth and
development; that we hope and pray he may long be
spared to lead us in full strength and vigor of body,
mind, and spirit; and that we take this opportunity of
pledging to him our unswerving loyalty and undivided
support in the prosecution of his labors for the spread
of the Kingdom of God on earth." ^

Dr. A. Burtis Hunter, for the clergy, and Governor
Thomas Bickett, for the laity, brought to the Bishop
messages of loyalty and affection. Mr. William A. Erwin
presented the Bishop with a purse of gold from the peo-
ple of the Diocese as a token of their love and esteem.

Conclusion of the Bishop's Work 1 1 7

Bishop Cheshire was deeply moved by these expressions
from his clergy and laity. It would be difficult to find in
any diocese a more sympathetic relationship between
bishop and people.

As Bishop Cheshire advanced in years, changes were
taking place in the church as in almost every other insti-
tution. Some of these he advocated, while others he ac-
cepted with regret. When the diocesan convention of
1919 met, a plan was introduced placing the administra-
tion of the affairs of the Diocese in the hands of the
bishop and an executive council. Of the proposed plan
Bishop Cheshire said that he thought it had "some advan-
tages," but he earnestly hoped that the administration of
the diocesan missions by the archdeacons would not in
any way be changed. The archdeacons were a great as-
sistance to the bishop in carrying on missionary work,
and were invaluable in overseeing vacant parishes and
missions. He referred to them as "the eyes of the Bishop
in all matters of practical work," and stated that he
wished to take this occasion to express his appreciation
for the relief they had afforded him. In his opinion, what-
ever shortcomings could be ascribed to the present sys-
tem of convocations under archdeacons were largely due
to the lack of co-operation by the laity.

After considering several proposals, the convention
adopted a plan of diocesan organization which provided
for an executive committee to be elected by the conven-
tion. It was to be composed of the bishop as ex-officio
chairman, three clergymen, three laymen, and three lay-
women. The executive committee was to act as a co-ordi-
nating and co-operating agent in diocesan work. The
convention also provided the bishop with a secretary
who should likewise serve as secretary of the executive

1 1 8 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

committee. The functions of the archdeacons were not
at this time altered. Several years later, however, the per-
sonnel of the executive committee and the scope of its
influence were enlarged. Also, a field secretary, who was
to oversee missionary work, was employed. These inno-
vations made the old system of convocations and arch-
deacons unnecessary, and it was accordingly abolished.

The Bishop observed with regret the abolition of the
office of archdeacon but acquiesced in it, since the ma-
jority of the clergy and laity preferred the new system
of administration. In his annual address of 1929 he paid
a final tribute to his archdeacons. He asserted that the
missionary work had never been so well looked after as
under their supervision, and that he would not have been
able to advance this phase of his work without their in-
valuable assistance.

When Bishop Cheshire was entering upon his seven-
tieth year, he felt little impairment of his physical
strength and had no desire to diminish his episcopal du-
ties. He realized, however, that others might feel he was
growing too old to carry on the work alone. Placing the
affairs of the church above any personal considerations,
he asked the convention of 19 19 whether he should con-
tinue to administer the Diocese without assistance or
adopt some other course. The Bishop then retired, and
the convention sitting as a committee of the whole con-
sidered its reply. Dr. Richard H. Lewis introduced a
resolution which was unanimously adopted. It declared
that the affairs of the Diocese had in no way been neg-
lected; that there was no evidence of failure of the Bish-
op's physical or mental faculties; and that the conven-
tion was confident that he would ask for assistance when
he felt it was necessary. The confidence his people placed

Conclusion of the Bishops s Work 1 1 9

in him, as expressed in this resolution, gave Bishop Chesh-
ire much pleasure and encouragement.

In the spring of 1922 the Bishop informed the Stand-
ing Committee of the Diocese that he had been urged by
several physicians and laymen to curtail his work and to
request the convention for assistance. The Standing
Committee promptly advised him to propose the election
of a bishop coadjutor. Accordingly, on April 21, he ad-
dressed a letter to the clergy in which he announced his
intention to ask the approaching diocesan convention to
consider the question of electing a bishop coadjutor. The
Bishop felt the clergy and laity should be informed of
his purpose in order that they might give this important
subject thoughtful consideration before the meeting of
the convention.

On May 16, at the Church of the Good Shepherd,
Raleigh, the convention met and immediately took up the
question of giving the Bishop assistance in his work.
After consideration it resolved that a bishop coadjutor
should be elected. Bishop Cheshire then gave his consent
to the election, and assigned to whoever should hold the
new office the episcopal oversight of the Convocation of
Charlotte and the personal supervision of all postulants
and candidates for Holy Orders of the Diocese.

The nominations for bishop coadjutor took place on
the evening of the second day. After six ballots were
taken, the Rev. Edwin Anderson Penick, Rector of St.
Peter's Church, Charlotte, was elected. He received
thirty-two clerical votes and twenty-four from the laity.
The choice of the convention met with general satisfac-
tion throughout the Diocese. Concerning the election.
Bishop Cheshire declared: "We believe that the Spirit
of God effectuates with His presence. His guidance, His

120 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

blessing, the solemn functions of the Body of Christ,
And never, I make bold to say, did we feel more sure
of the Divine presence, guidance and blessing, than in
the solemn hour of the choosing of our Bishop Coadju-
tor. Among the many happy and helpful experiences of
my Episcopate, and of my life, I remember that as one
of the best." ^

On October 15, 1922, the twenty-ninth anniversary
of Bishop Cheshire's consecration. Rev. Edwin A. Pen-
ick, D.D., was consecrated bishop coadjutor in St.
Peter's Church, Charlotte. He entered upon the duties
of his ofEce almost immediately thereafter. From that
time until the death of Bishop Cheshire the two men
worked together in perfect harmony. Although they did
not always agree on diocesan poHcy, they never allowed
a difference of opinion to mar their affectionate rela-
tionship.

Bishop Cheshire gradually placed more responsibility
on Bishop Penick as he became better acquainted with the
work of the Diocese. A characteristic act of Bishop
Cheshire's, and one which claimed the admiration of his
people, was the turning over of the work at Chapel
Hill to Bishop Penick's supervision. The Chapel of the
Cross at Chapel Hill had been the Bishop's first parish
and he had always retained for it a deep affection.
Therefore, it was a personal sacrifice for him to relinquish
it to another. He felt that, due to the peculiar nature
of the work at Chapel Hill, it should be under the
guidance of a younger man.

As Bishop Cheshire grew older he began to plan how
best he could provide for his wife and daughter when
they would no longer be able to live at Ravenscroft,
the Bishop's house. He decided to build a small apart-

Conclusion of the Bishop's Work 1 2 1

merit house in Raleigh, which would produce an income
as well as provide a home for them. When the house was
completed he advertised the apartments for rent only to
families with children. He thought the frequent practice
of denying apartments to persons with children was most
unfair and, therefore, determined to make his house an
exception. This was typical of the Bishop, who loved
children and large families.

In building his apartment house Bishop Cheshire had
to borrow a part of the cost of its construction. Speak-
ing of this to Bishop Penick, he remarked he hoped to
live four years longer since by that time his loan would
be retired. Recalling this observation Bishop Penick de-
cided to raise a sum of money from among the people
of the Diocese to relieve the Bishop of this care. The
money was raised by the time the diocesan convention
met in the spring of 1924 at Winston-Salem. It was a
fitting time and place for the presentation of the gift,
since it was at Winston-Salem thirty years before that
Bishop Cheshire presided over his first convention. The
gift, which amounted to $4,273, was presented to the
Bishop from the people of the Diocese by Dr. Richard
H. Lewis, who said in part: "My dear Bishop: By your
strong and vigorous intellect, your wide and accurate
learning, your pubHc spirit, your unspotted character,
and a personality of unaffected friendship, you have
come to be— in the words of another— 'one of the best
known and best loved men in our State.' " Referring to
this generous expression of affection. Bishop Cheshire
remarked that he could never "cease to feel grateful to
him whose generosity conceived the idea, and to the
many kind friends who responded to his suggestion, and
transmuted his thoughts into act."

1 2 2 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

At this convention the Bishop deUvered an address in
which he briefly reviewed the high points in the thirty
years of his episcopate. He declared he wished to repeat
a major point he had made in his first episcopal address
in 1894, namely, the importance of realizing the "com-
mon bond of union in the Diocese by becoming inter-
ested in common Diocesan work." During the past three
decades Bishop Cheshire had accomplished more than
any of his predecessors in breaking down parochialism
by arousing in his people a lively interest in diocesan
enterprises. The Bishop concluded the review of his work
by saying that the past thirty years had been happy ones,
"years in which I have received much love, consideration,
and kindness from all our people, clerical and lay."

The unusual and praiseworthy feature of the general
esteem in which Bishop Cheshire was held in North Caro-
lina was the demonstration of that esteem during his life-
time. The churchmen did not wait until his death to
eulogize him and to erect memorials in his honor. On
many occasions and in many different ways he was made
to realize the high place which he held in the hearts of
his people.

After completing thirty-five years as bishop of the
Diocese of North Carolina, a longer period than any of
his predecessors. Bishop Cheshire felt that he must give
up the greater part of his work. He therefore informed
the convention of 1929 that he was turning over to
Bishop Penick the general administration of the entire
Diocese. He thought that the ever-increasing and more
complicated work of the church required a younger
and more vigorous man, one, as he expresed it, "more
adaptable and more in sympathy with changing condi-
tions and methods." Of Bishop Penick he said: "We have
one whom we all beheve to be eminently fitted to carry

Conclusion of the Bishop's Work 1 2 3

on the Diocese with success and with the confidence,
sympathy and affection of all." Bishop Cheshire did not
intend, however, to relinquish all of his duties. He re-
tained for himself the episcopal oversight of about one-
third of the parishes and missions, the keeping of the
diocesan register, and the requisite business before the
Standing Committee. The parishes which he reserved for
his own visitations were all located within a convenient
distance from Raleigh.

Bishop Cheshire was not present at the convention of
1929 because of the serious illness of Mrs. Cheshire.
Bishop Penick read his address. It was the first diocesan
convention that he had failed to attend since 1876 when
he had been present as a lay delegate. Mrs. Cheshire died
before the convention adjourned. Accordingly, resolu-
tions of sympathy for the Bishop were adopted, and a
committee was appointed to represent the convention at
Mrs. Cheshire's funeral. The death of his wife was a
great loss to the Bishop; their life of thirty years together
had been happy and congenial. Mrs. Cheshire had been
a generous mother to his small children, and a helpful
and devoted wife.

Although his strength was gradually failing. Bishop
Cheshire displayed during the next three years a re-
markable activity. For one of his years he preserved an
unusually tolerant attitude towards the many religious,
social, and political changes of the day. When, on his
eightieth birthday, he was asked what he thought of the
youth of today, the Bishop replied: "The world is a
much better place than it was when I was a young man,
. . . Young people today have more personal religion
than thev did then." ^ While he disapproved of much
that was done by the youth of today, he thought that his
parents must have had much of the same sort of disap-

124 Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire

proval of his own generation. "When people talk," said
the Bishop, "of the degeneration of the morals and man-
ners of the present, and praise the good old times and
old time religion, as being so much superior to the
present, they do not know what the old times were, and
in my opinion, they are often speaking nonsense. That
is my very serious opinion." '^ In making this observa-
tion he did not mean to depreciate the religion of his
forefathers, for no one had a greater respect and venera-
tion for the past.

During the last year of his life Bishop Cheshire filled
almost all of his regular visitations in the eastern part
of the Diocese. In addition, he spent ten days, in the
month of July, visiting the country churches in the
counties of Rowan, Mecklenburg, Davie, and Iredell.
In the course of these visitations he called on forty
families in the several parishes and missions. Such ac-
tivity in midsummer would have taxed the strength of a
far younger man, but it did not appear to trouble the
Bishop. At the time, he wrote his son that although the
heat was very severe, he noticed it no more than if he
had been doing nothing. In June of 1932 the Bishop
went to Hartford, Connecticut, to assist in the consecra-
tion of a new chapel at his alma mater. Trinity College.
He enjoyed the trip thoroughly, renewing some of his
old friendships and making new ones.

By the fall of 1932 Bishop Cheshire's health was greatly
impaired, but he continued his visitations through Decem-
ber 1 1 . On that day he performed his last service. He
confirmed a class of fifteen persons in the Church of the
Good Shepherd, Raleigh, but was not able to preach the
sermon. A few days later he went to Charlotte for treat-
ment by a specialist. Shortly after entering the hospital,
however, he became gradually worse. On December 27,

Conclusion of the Bishop's Work 1 2 5

at six-thirty in the evening, the Diocese of North Caro-
lina lost its beloved Bishop.

It was unusually difficult for the people of the Diocese
to reahze that Bishop Cheshire would no longer be with
them. He had possessed such a lovable and dynamic per-
sonality, had so largely molded the character of the
Diocese, and had been its Bishop for so long that his
people found it hard to associate the idea of death with
him. He had baptized, confirmed, or married many of
them, had entered symparhetically into the pleasures
and problems of their secular as well as their spiritual
lives, and thus endeared himself to them to an extent
far beyond the capacity of most men. In the words of
the Presiding Bishop, James DeWolf Perry: "It is im-
possible to foresee a time when his influence will not be
felt, his penetrating mind will not be esteemed or when
his name will cease to be held in grateful and loving
remembrance."

THE CHAPEL OF THE CROSS, CHAPEL HILL

From a drawing by Mary de B. Graves

Notes

CHAPTER I. YOUTH AND MANHOOD

1. Joseph Blount Cheshire, "Some Account of My Life for My
Children," Carolina Churchman, March, 1934. Hereafter, this work is
cited simply as "Some Account of My Life."

2. This manuscript was written on February 12, 1866. It is owned
by Mr. J. B. Cheshire, Jr., of Raleigh.

3. Cheshire, "Some Account of My Life," Carolina Churchman,
May, 1934.

4. Ibid., December, 1934.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid., February, 1935.

7. Ibid.

CHAPTER IL DEACON AND PRIEST

1. Cheshire, "Some Account of My Life," Carolina Churchman,
May, 1935.

2. Ibid., April, 1935.

3. Church Messefiger, August 4, 1881.

4. Joseph B. Cheshire, "Autobiography," pp. 229-230, a manuscript
work owned by Mr. J. B. Cheshire, Jr.

5. Ibid., p. 230.

6. Ibid., pp. 231-232.

7. Ibid., p. 256.

CHAPTER III. SAINT PETER'S PARISH

1. Cheshire to his wife, November 23, 1905, Cheshire Manuscripts,
owned by Mr. J. B. Cheshire, Jr., Raleigh.

2. Cheshire, "Autobiography," p. 315.

3. Ibid., p. 322.

4. Ibid., p. 345.

5. Cheshire to Bishop Lyman, April 6, 1886, Joseph Blount Cheshire
Papers, University of North Carolina Library.

127

128 Notes

6. Bishop Lyman to Cheshire, October 17, 1888, Joseph Blount
Cheshire Papers, University of North Carolina Library.

7. A. W. Dodge to Cheshire, July 6, 1891, Bishop Joseph Blount
Cheshire Papers, North Carolina Historical Commission.

8. Cheshire, "Autobiography," p. 382.

CHAPTER IV. ELECTION TO THE EPISCOPATE

1. Cheshire to Nannie C. Hoke, February 16, 1891, Bishop Joseph
Blount Cheshire Papers, North Carolina Historical Commission.

2. Rev. Robert B. Owens to L. F. London, July 8, 1938. Mr. Owens
was a member of the adjourned convention of 1893. This letter con-
tains a description of the proceedings of that convention.

3. Cheshire to Dr. Joseph B. Cheshire, Sr., June 29, 1893, Bishop
Joseph Blount Cheshire Papers, North Carolina Historical Commis-
sion.

4. Cheshire to Sallie Badger Hoke, July 3, 1893, Bishop Joseph
Blount Cheshire Papers, North Carolina Historical Commission.

5. Rev. Francis J. Murdoch in an open letter to Rev. E. A. Osborne,
1893, Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire Papers, North Carolina His-
torical Commission.

CHAPTER V. FIRST YEARS IN THE EPISCOPACY

1. Journal of the Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina
(1894), p. 64.

2. Joseph B. Cheshire, Milnor Jones, Deacon and Missionary, p. 28.

3. Ibid., p. 53.

4. Journal of the Conventioji of the Missionary Jurisdiction of
Asheville (1896), p. 51.

5. Ibid., pp. 50-51.

6. Cheshire to his wife, October 2, 1901, Cheshire Manuscripts,
owned by Mr. J. B. Cheshire, Jr., Raleigh.

7. Joseph B. Cheshire, Fifty Years of Church Life in North Caro-
lina, p. 6.

8. Joseph B. Cheshire, Journal of 1897, p. 96, a manuscript account
of his visit to England and the Continent in the summer of 1897,
owned by Mr. J. B. Cheshire, Jr., Raleigh.

9. Nicholas Collin Hughes, "Some Memories of Bishop Cheshire."
This manuscript was written for L. F. London and is in his posses-
sion.

10. Journal of the Coiivention of the Diocese of North Carolina
(1896), pp. 61-62.

11. Cheshire to his wife, November 7, 1899, Cheshire Manuscripts,
owned by Mr. J. B. Cheshire, Jr., Raleigh.

12. The Raleigh News and Observer, October 15, 1903.

Notes 129

CHAPTER VI. MAN AND BISHOP
I. Carolina Churchman, April, 193 1.

CHAPTER VII. HISTORIAN

1. Cheshire, "Some Account of My Life," CaroliTia Churchman,
January, 1935.

2. Walter Clark to Cheshire, May 24, 1893, Bishop Joseph Blount
Cheshire Papers, North Carolina Historical Commission.

3. Cheshire, "Autobiography," p. 360.

4. Ibid., pp. 414-418.

5. The Raleigh News and Observer, December 4, 1931.

CHAPTER VIII. WORK AMONG THE COLORED PEOPLE

1. Cheshire to his wife, August 25, 1905, Cheshire Manuscripts,
owned by Mr. J. B. Cheshire, Jr., Raleigh.

2. Journal of the Convention of the Diocese of North Carolina
(1907), p. 72.

3. Bishop Cheshire to Bishop Guerry, May 17, 191 8, Joseph Blount
Cheshire Papers, University of North Carolina Library.

4. Joseph B. Cheshire, Manuscript Address, Cheshire Manuscripts,
owned by Mr. J. B. Cheshire, Jr., Raleigh.

5. Carolina Churchman, May, 1929.

CHAPTER IX. DEVELOPMENT AND CONCLUSION
OF THE BISHOP'S WORK

1. Joseph B. Cheshire, "Our Summer, 1908," a journal of his visit to
England for the Pan-Anglican Congress and the Lambeth Conference,
owned by Mr. J. B. Cheshire, Jr., Raleigh.

2. Joseph B. Cheshire, "England, 1920," a journal of his trip to
England for the Lambeth Conference and of his visit to France and
Switzerland, owned by Mr. J. B. Cheshire, Jr., Raleigh.

3. Sermon on Patriotism and the War, Joseph Blount Cheshire
Papers, University of North Carolina Library.

4. Journal of the Co7Jvention of the Diocese of North Carolina
(1919), p. 51.

5. Ibid. (1923), p. 84.

6. The Raleigh News and Observer, March 28, 1930.

7. Carolina Churchman, April, 1930.

Published Writings of Joseph Blount Cheshire

Address of the Right Rev. Joseph Blount Cheshire, Bishop of
North Carolina, on the Occasion of the Dedicatio?i of the
Memorial Vestibule in Christ Church, Raleigh, to the
Glory of God and in the Memory of Richard Henry
Lewis, December i8, 192'j. Charlottesville, Va., n.d.

"Baptism of Virginia Dare," anniversary address, delivered
on Roanoke Island by Rt. Rev. Joseph Blount Cheshire,
D.D., August 18, 1910, North Carolina Booklet, Vol. X,
no. 4.

Bishop Atkinson a7id the Church in the Confederacy. Ral-
eigh, 1909.

"The Bishops of North Carolina— When the State Was One
Diocese," The Carolina Churchman, November, 1910-
February, 191 1.

The Church in the Cotrfederate States: A History of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States.
New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 19 12.

"The Church in the Province of North Carolina," in
Sketches of Church History in North Carolina, edited by
Bishop Cheshire.

"Decay and Revival, 1800-18 30," in Sketches of Church
History in North Carolina, edited by Bishop Cheshire.

"Dr. Richard H. Lewis; An Intimate Sketch by a Life-long
Friend," The Carolina ChurchTnmt, October, 1926.

The Early Conventions: held at Tarborough Anno Domini
ijpo, 1JP3 and 1^94. The first effort to organize the
Church in North Carolina. Collected from original sources

1 3 2 Published Writings

and now first published. With introductioti and brief
notes, Raleigh, 1882.

"The Early Rectors of Christ Church," Centennial Ceremo-
nies held in Christ Church Parish, Raleigh, North Caro-
lina, A.D. 1^21. Including Historical Addresses. Raleigh,
1922.

"Entries in an Old Bible which was Formerly in the Posses-
sion of Miss Chloe Coward," North Carolina Historical
and Genealogical Register, July, 1903.

Fifty Years of Church Life in North Carolina, an Address
by the Rt. Rev. Joseph Blount Cheshire, D.D., Bishop of
North Carolina, on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Rev.
Robert B. Drane, D.D., as Rector of St. Paul's Church,
Edenton, N. C. All Saints' Day, 1926. Edenton, n.d.

"First Settlers in North Carolina Not Religious Refugees: A
Study in Origins," North Carolina Booklet, Vol. V, no. 4.

Fragmejits of Colonial Church History: 1. Public Libraries.
n.p., 1886.

"The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, and Religious
Liberty in the Province of North Carolina," Historical
Magazine of the Protestajit Episcopal Church, Vol. I,
no. 4.

A?i Historical Address Delivered in Saint Matthew's Church,
Hillsboro, N. C, on Sunday, August 24, 1924. Being the
One Himdredth Afiniversary of the Parish. Durham, 1925.

"An Historical Sketch of the Church in Edgecombe County,
North Carolina," Church Messenger, August 17-Septem-
ber 21, 1880.

"How Our Church Came to North Carolina," The Spirit of
Missions, May, 19 18.

Milnor Jones, Deacon ajid Missionary. Raleigh, 1920.

Nonmdla: Memories, Stories, and Traditions, More or Less
Authentic, About North Carolina. Chapel Hill: The Uni-
versity of North Carolina Press, 1930.

"The Office of Solicitor General of North Carolina," Uni-
versity of North Carolina Magazine, May, 1894.

"The Personnel of the North Carolina Convention of 1788,"
Publications of the Southern History Association, Vol.
Ill, 1899.

Published Writings 1 3 3

A Priest to the Temple or, The Country Parson, His Char-
acter and Rule of Holy Life, by George Herbert, with an
Introduction and brief notes by the Bishop of North
Carolina. New York: Thomas Whittaker, Inc., 1908.

Public Worship in the Church. A Charge to the Clergy of
the Diocese of North Carolina delivered at the meeting
of the Convocations of Raleigh and Charlotte, in October,
191 2. Also a Pastoral Letter to the Clergy and Laity of
the Diocese, n.p., n.d.

Saint Petefs Church, Charlotte, North Carolina— Thirty
Years of its Life and Work, 186^-1893. Charlotte, 192 1.

"A Sermon; Preached in St. John's Church, Fayetteville, the
Sunday next before Advent, November 24, 1889, at the
Centennial of the Fayetteville Convention of 1789," Uni-
versity of North Carolina Magazine, Vol. XI, no. 4.

Sketches of Church History in North Carolina, Addresses
and Papers by the Clergymen and Laymen of the Dioceses
of North and East Carolina. Wilmington, 1892.

"Some Account of My Life for My Children," Carolina
Churchman, January, 1934-May, 1935.

"White Haven Church and the Rev. Robert Johnston Mil-
ler," in Sketches of Church History in North Carolina,
edited by Bishop Cheshire.

"Why Judge Haywood Left North Carolina," University
of North Carolijia Magazine, January, 1895.

"Wilmington, the Free Town of the Cape Fear," in Historic
Toivns of the Southern States, by Lyman P. Powell. New
York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1900.

Index

Abbey of Valle Crucis, 109
Adams, Rev. Samuel F., 59
"A. H. W.," poem, 17
Albemarle section, 2, 89
Alpha Delta Phi, 11
Alston, Rev. Primus P., 31, 76,

104
Alumnae Association of St. Mary's

School, 64
American Church Institute for

Negroes, Cheshire elected to,

105
"Annals of the Church in the

Province of North Carolina,"

MS by Cheshire, 91
Archdeacons, Cheshire's estimate

of, 117-118
Ashe County, 57-58
Atkinson, Bishop Thomas, 18-19,

21; on division of Diocese, 35;

sketch of by Cheshire, 94-95

Battle, President Kemp P., 19, 22,

Battle, Richard H., 75

Beach Cliff Schoolhouse, 34

Beaver Creek, 58-59

Bickett, Gov. Thomas, 116

Bishop of Georgia, Cheshire con-
sidered for, 41

Bishop Payne Divinity School, 105

Bixby, Robert F., 10

Blount, Elizabeth, 2

Blount, Joseph, 2

Bridgers, Cheshire, and Bridgers,
firm of, 15

Bridgers, Col. John L., 15

Bridgers, John L., Jr., 15

Bronson, Rev. Benjamin S., insti-
tutional work in Charlotte, 28-

29
Burlington, N. C, Cheshire is

called to church at, 25
Buxton, Rev. Jarvis, 40, 91

Bakersville, N. C, 58

Baltimore, 13; practices law in,

14-15
Barber, Rev. Al. A., 103
Barrett, Rev. Robert S., 47, 48
Barrows, Rev. W. S., 49
Baskerville, Rev. Erasmus L., 103

Calvary Church, Tarboro, 2, 3,

35; Cheshire receives call to, 41;

Cheshire consecrated in, 52-53

Canterbury, Archbishop of, 67

Capers, Bishop EUison, 53, 66

Chapel Hill, 19-20; Cheshire gives

work in to Bishop Penick, 120

135

136

Index

Chapel of the Cross, Cheshire be-
comes rector of, 19-20

Charlotte, Cheshire begins work
in, 27

Cheshire, Annie, 44

Cheshire, Annie Gray, Bishop's
sister, 4

Cheshire, Annie Webb (Mrs.
Joseph Blount), 17, 22, 44; death
of, 67

Cheshire, Elizabeth Mitchell (Mrs.
Joseph Blount), 69; death of,

123 .
Cheshire, Elizabeth Toole, 23, 44
Cheshire, Godfrey, 44
Cheshire, James Webb, 44
Cheshire, John, the Bishop's

grandfather, 2
Cheshire, Dr. Joseph Blount, Sr.,

2, 3._ 4- 7. 10
Cheshire, Bishop Joseph Blount,
birth, 4; early education, 4-6;
practices law, 14-17; marries
Annie Webb, 17; ordained dea-
con, 19; rector, Chapel of the
Cross, 19-26; ordained priest, 25;
rector, St. Peter's, Charlotte,
27 ff.; Negro work in Charlotte,
30-31; in diocesan conventions,
34-39; views on episcopate, 47;
elected assistant bishop, 50; on
Missionary Jurisdiction of Ashe-
ville, 60-63; St. Mary's School,
63-66; death of Annie Webb
Cheshire, 67; marries Elizabeth
Mitchell, 69; in the General
Convention, 69-70; on public
worship, 71-72; on fishing and
hunting, 77-79; on divorce ques-
tion, 81-84; on national prohibi-
tion, 84-85; as a father, 86-87;
on racial episcopate, 101-104;
asks for assistance, 119; death of
Elizabeth Mitchell Cheshire,
123; on youth of today, 123-124;
death of, 125

Cheshire, Joseph Blount, Jr., 44,

77
Cheshire, Katherine Drane, 4
Cheshire, Sarah, 44, 79
Cheshire, Theophilus Parker, 4
Cheshire Building, St. Augustine's,

107
Christ Church, Raleigh, 48
Church in the Confederate States,

discussion of, 94-96
Churchman, The, 95
Church Messenger, 23, 25, 90 ~
Church of the Good Shepherd,

Raleigh, 75, 119; Cheshire's last

service, 124
Church Temperance Society, of

England, iio-iii
Church Times, 95
Clark, Gov. Henry, 88
Clark, Judge Walter, 89
Colonial Records of North Caro-

liita, 89, 91
Connor, R. D. W., resolution on

the Bishop, 116
Convocation for Colored Work,

74
Convocation of Charlotte, 74, 119
Convocation of Raleigh, 74
Curtis, Dr. M. Ashley, 3, 53

Davidson College, 33

Deerfield, Mass., 10

Delany, Rev. Henry B., 76; elected
suffragan bishop, 103-104

Devereaux, Thomas P., 2

Division of the Diocese, 35-36

Dodge, Rev. A. W., 42

Drane, Dr. Robert B., on Chesh-
ire's sermons, 80-81

Dudley, Bishop T. U., 53

Durham, N. C., 20; Cheshire or-
ganizes church in, 23-25

Index

137

Edenton, N. C, home of Chesh-
ire's ancestors, 2

Edenton Academy, 2

Edgecombe County, 19-20; his-
tory of church in, 88-89

Eliot, George, quotation from,
100

EUicott City, i, 12

Episcopal School for Boys, Ral-
eigh, 2

Erwin, William A., 114, 116

Executive council, formed, 117-
118

France, Cheshire visits, 68
Fundamental Constitutions,
Cheshire discusses, 97

General Convention, Cheshire
elected deputy to, 40; on racial
episcopate, 102
George, Rev. T. M. N., nomi-
nated assistant bishop, 48
Glenn, Gov. Robert B., 83
Gletsch, Switzerland, 112
Good Samaritan Hospital, 42-43,

99
Graves, Professor Ralph, 22
Graves' school, Granville County,

7
Guerry, Bishop William A., 103,

104
Guild of St. Martin, 32

Halifax, 3

Harding, Rev. Nathaniel H.,

nominated assistant bishop, 48
Hartford, Conn., 8, 10

Herbert, George, 93, 94
Hillsboro, N. C., 20; Cheshire

studies law in, 13-14
Historiographer, Cheshire

elected, 90
Holler, Bill, 77-78
Holmes, Rev. Lucian, 29
Holt, Lawrence, 114
Honesty, Cheshire writes essay

on, 7
Honorary degrees, given Chesh-
ire, 93
Hooper, George G., Cheshire's

law partner, 14-15
Hooper, Professor J. de Bemiere,

22
Hooper and Cheshire, firm of, 15
Homer, Bishop Junius Moore,

consecrated bishop, 63
Howard, Judge George, 14
Howard and Perry, firm of, 14
Hunter, Dr. A. B., 108, 112, 116

Iredell County, 42

Ireland, Cheshire visits, 68

Ives, Bishop Levi Silliman, 2, 3;

work at Valle Crucis, 56, 59;

sketch of by Cheshire, 94

Jackson, Bishop Henry M., 47
Jamaica, Cheshire visits, 1 1 3
Johns, Bishop John, advice to

young clergymen, 21
Johnston, WUliam H., 5
Joint convention of 1890, 91-92
Jones, Hamilton C, 28
Jones, Rev. Milnor, mission work
in the mountains, 56-59; Chesh-
ire's estimate of, 60; life of by
Cheshire, 96
Jones, Sam, 43-44
Jurisdiction of AshevUle, forma-
tion of, 61-63

138

Index

Kerfoot, President of Trinity
College, 9

Lambeth Conference, Cheshire
attends, 67-68, 109, 111-112

Lenten services, Cheshire on, 73

Lewis, Nell Battle, tribute to the
Bishop, 86

Lewis, Dr. Richard H., 5, 7, 13,
118; Cheshire's best man, 17;
tribute to Cheshire, 121

Lloyd, Rev. Arthur S., nominated
assistant bishop, 49

Long Creek Township, 33-34

Louisburg, N. C, 5

Louisburg Academy, Cheshire at-
tends, 6

Lucas, Rev. Henry, 41

Lyman, Bishop Theodore Bene-
dict, 21, 24, 25, 34, 53; on divi-
sion of Diocese, 35; estimate of
Cheshire's work in Charlotte,
41; asks for assistance, 46, 48;
death of, 54; sketch of by
Cheshire, 94

McCoy, Columbus W., 33
Mallett, Dr. William P., 22
Marshall, Dr. Matthias M., 19, 35;
nominated assistant bishop, 48
Maryland, 9, 12
Mecklenburg County, missions in,

Meredith, Rev. Reuben, 79
Methodist Church Conference, 83
Missionary bishops for Negro

work, 101-102
Mitchell, Elizabeth Lansdale, mar-
ries Bishop Cheshire, 69; death
of, 123

Mitchell, Rev. Walter A., 69

Mitchell County, 57-58

Monreath, summer home of the
Bishop's father, 5, 12

Monroe, N. C, Cheshire organ-
izes church in, 32

Mooresville, N. C, 33

Murdoch, Dr. Francis J., Chesh-
ire's estimate of, 47; nominated
assistant bishop, 48; nominates
Cheshire, 48; on Cheshire's elec-
tion as bishop, 51

Murray, Bishop John Gardner,
estimate of Cheshire, 107

Music in the church, Cheshire on,
73

Negro, religion of the, 106
Newsome, A. R., estimate of

Cheshire as an historian, 98
NUes, Professor William W., 9
Nonnulla, vii, 79; discussion of, 97

Orkneys, Cheshire visits, 68
Osborne, Rev. Edwin A., takes
work at Monroe and Long
Creek, 32, 34; founds Thomp-
son Orphanage, 42
Outlook, 95

Palmer, Professor George H., 94
Pamlico Banking and Insurance

Company, 15, 19
Pan-Anglican Congress, 109-111
Parker, Elizabeth Toole, 4
Parker, Mary Toole, 4
Parker, Theophilus, 4
Pastoral Letter, by Cheshire, 72-

Index

139

Penick, Bishop Edwin A., elected
bishop coadjutor, 119; proposes
gift for Cheshire, 121, 122

Perry, Bishop James DeWolf,
tribute to Cheshire, 125

Phi Kappa, Cheshire's fraternity,
II

Pittsboro, N. C, 19

Polk County, 57

Portrait of the Bishop, 108

Presbyterian Synod, 83

Pynchon, Professor at Trinity, 10

Quaker settlements in North Car-
olina, 89
Quin, Rev. Charles C, 30-32
Quintard, Bishop Charles T., 53

Racial episcopate, 103

Ravenscroft, Bishop John Stark,
47; sketch of by Cheshire, 94

Ravenscroft, Raleigh, home of the
Bishop, 120

Roanoke River swamp. Bishop
hunts in, 78

Rockingham, N. C, 33

Ruffin, Chief Justice Thomas, 13

Ruffin, William K., Cheshire stud-
ies law under, 13-14, 16

St. Ambrose Church, Raleigh, 76
St. Augustine's School, 105, 107-

108
St. Clement's Hall, Cheshire

teaches at, i, 12-13, ^^
St. Luke's Church, Tarboro,

Cheshire holds first service as

bishop in, 53

St. Mark's Church, Mecklenburg
County, 25; organized, 34

St. Martin's Church, Charlotte,
organized, 31

St. Mary's School, founded, 63-
64; Cheshire's opinion of, 64;
established as a church school,
64-66; Cheshire's daughters at-
tend, 87; debt on, 11 3-1 14; en-
dowment for, 114

St. Matthew's Church, HUlsboro,
Cheshire married in, 17; Chesh-
ire is called to, 25

St. Michael and All Angels, Char-
lotte, organized, 30, 31, 99

St. Michael's Industrial School,
Charlotte, 104-105

St. Paul's Church, Edenton, 2, 80

St. Paul's Church, Macon, Ga.,
Cheshire receives call to, 41

St. Paul's Church, Winston-
Salem, 25, 55

St. Peter's Church, Charlotte, 28,
36; Cheshire is called to, 26

St. Peter's Home and Hospital,
organized, 29, 30

St. Philip's Church, Durham, 24-

Saluda conference, 66
Saunders, Col. William L., 89-90
Scotland, Cheshire visits, 68
Scotland Neck, 3
Sermons, Cheshire discusses, 21-22
Sessums, Bishop Davis, 53
Shepherd, John Avery, 12
Smedes, Dr. Aldert, 63
Smedes, Dr. Bennett, 63, 64, 66
Smedes, Rev. John E. C, 19, 25;

verses to Cheshire, 51-52
Society of the Cincinnati, Chesh-
ire becomes member of, 93
State Literary and Historical
Association, Cheshire elected
president of, 97
Strange, Rev, Robert B., 92
Suffragan bishops, for Negro
work, 101-104

140

Index

Sutton, Rev. Robert B., 19, 20
Switzerland, Cheshire visits, 68,

Tarboro, N. G., 14-15, 17; de-
scription of, 2

Tarboro Building and Loan As-
sociation, 15-16

Tarboro Male Academy, Chesh-
ire attends, 5, 7, 13

Thompson Orphanage, Charlotte,

Trinity Church, Scotland Neck, 3

Trinity College, Hartford, Conn.,
Cheshire enters, 8-9; graduates
from, 11-12; confers degree on
Cheshire, 93; Cheshire visits, 124

Tryon, N. C, 56

"Tuttle Prize," Cheshire wins, 11

University of North Carolina, 5,
6, 8, 19, 87; confers degree on
Cheshire, 93

University of the South, Chesh-
ire made trustee of, 39-40;
Cheshire's son attends, 87; con-
fers degree on Cheshire, 93

Valle Crucis, Cheshire revives
work at, 56-57, 59

Watauga County, missions in, 57-

Watauga River, 56, 77

Watson, Bishop Alfred A., 25, 53

Webb, Annie Huske, Cheshire

meets, 16; marries Cheshire, 17;

death of, 67
Weed, Bishop Edwin G., 53
Weeks, Stephen B., 49 n.
West Indies, Archbishop of, 113
Wetmore, Rev. George B., 34
Whipple, Bishop Henry B., 47
Wilkes, John, 27-28, 32
Wilkes, Mrs. John, 42-43
Wilkinson, Frank S., 5, 7-8
Williams, Bishop John, 10- 11
Wilson, President Woodrow, 115
Winchester, Rev. J. R., 47
Windsor, N. C, 3
Winston, Professor George T., 22

York, Archbishop of, Cheshire
visits, 68

Date Due

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NOV 4

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JUN ? 2 79

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FEB C i X3

'JUN 06^

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JUN 3 0 '87

JUN '^ 7 198

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Sch.R, 922.373 C524L 400333

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